o^ 


n 


Viii)- 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


i-/^^^- 


Division . 
Section____ 
Number 


% 


41. 


•/ 


POSTHUMOUS  ¥OEKS 


OP    THE 


/ 

EEV.  THOMAS  "CHAIMEES,  B.D.,  Ll.D. 


EDITED   BY   THE 


REY.  WILLIAM  HANNA,  LL.D. 


VOL.    VII. 


NEW    YOUK: 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,   PUBLISHERS, 
82   CLIFF   STREET. 

184  9. 


INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOG-Y 


BY    THE    LATE 


THOMAS  CHALMERS,  D.D.,  LL.D, 


IN     TWO     VOLUMES. 

VOL.    I. 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER   &   BROTHERS,   PUBLISHERS, 

82  CLIFF   STREET. 

18  4  9. 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  I.— GENERAL  AND  INTRODUCTORY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Page 
Preliminary  Ethics 21 

CHAPTER  n. 
Preliminary  Metaphysics  and  Mental  Physics 45 

CHAPTER  HI. 

On  Certain  Initial  Considerations  present  to  every  Mind,  and  which  lay  the  Obhgatiou 
upon  all  of  giving  to  Religion  their  serious  Entertainment 70 


BOOK  II.— NATURAL  THEOLOGY. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Proofs  from  External  Nature  for  the  Being  of  a  God SO 

CHAPTER  n. 

Proofs  from  the  Constitution  of  the  Human  Mind,  and  from  its  Relations  to  External 
Nature,  for  the  Being  and  Character  of  God 117 

CHAPTER  in. 

On  the  Degree  of  Light  which  Natural  Theology  casts,  and  the  Uncertainty  in  which  it 
leaves  both  the  Purposes  of  God  and  the  future  Destinies  of  Man , 1 35 


vi  CONTENTS. 

BOOK  III.— EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 
CHAPTER  I. 

Page 
Certain  Prefatory  Reasonings ....».,.. 156 

CHAPTER  11. 
On  the  General  Evidence  of  History ♦••• 175 

CHAPTER  HI 
On  the  Internal  Historical  Evidence  for  the  Truth  of  Christianity  ................  i .. .  193 

CHAPTER  IV. 
On  the  External  Historical  Evidence  for  the  Tmth  of  Christianity 213 

CHAPTER  V. 
Some  Remarks  on  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy 234 

CHAPTER  VI. 
On  the  Moral  and  Exp  erimental  Evidences  for  the  Truth  of  Christianity 247 

CHAPTER  VII. 
General  Review  of  a  previous  Work  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity 266 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
General  Application  of  our  Views  on  the  Evidences  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion. ,  276 

CHAPTER  IX. 
On  Scripture  Cnticism. 299 

CHAPTER  X. 
On  Systematic  Theology. .  =  ..<•  c. .... « ....«.......,  =  .........,...,....,,...,.,.,. .  353 


CONTENTS.  vii 


SUBJECT-MATTER  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

PART  I.— ON  THE  DISEASE  FOR  WHICH  THE  GOSPEL 
REMEDY  IS  PROVIDED. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Page 
Reasons  why  Man's  State  of  Guilt  and  moral  Depravation  should  form  the  Initial  Doc- 
trine of  a  Systematic  Course  on  the  Subject- Matter  of  Christianity 387 

CHAPTER  II. 
On  the  Moral  State  of  Man  as  found  by  Observation 394 

CHAPTER  III. 
On  the  Moral  State  of  Man  as  affirmed  in  Scripture 407 

CHAPTER  IV. 
On  the  Scriptural  Account  of  the  Origin  of  Human  Depravity 437 

CHAPTER  V. 
On  the  Guilt  of  Man  as  charged  upon  him  by  his  own  Natural  Conscience 462 

CHAPTER  VI. 
On  the  Guilt  of  Man  as  charged  upon  him  by  Scripture 474 

CHAPTER  VII. 

On  the  Reciprocal  and  Conjunct  Influences  which  the  Light  of  Nature  and  the  Light  of 
Revelation  have  upon  each  other 500 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
On  the  Practical  and  Pulpit  Treatment  of  this  Subject. 519 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  his  first  delivered  Course  of  Theological  Lectures, 
after  treating  of  Natural  Theology  and  the  Evidences  of 
Christianity,  Dr.  Chalmers  entered  upon  the  subject  of 
the  Character  and  Constitution  of  the  Godhead.  At  the 
close,  however,  of  his  discussion  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  he  declared  it  to  be  his  purpose  to  depart  from 
that  order  of  topics  which  writers  on  systematic  divinity 
had  so  generally  pursued — an  order  which  he  himself  had 
so  far  tested,  and  with  which  he  had  been  disappointed — 
and  to  follow  another  in  its  stead,  of  whose  superiority  he 
became  afterwards  growingly  convinced,  and  which  he 
finally  adopted,  when,  transcribing  his  lectures  for  the 
press,  he  molded  them  into  the  form  in  which  they  are 
now  presented  to  the  public.  As  the  most  suitable  intro- 
duction to  the  present  volume,  there  is  inserted  here  the 
explanation  and  defense  of  his  relinquishment  of  the  old 
method  and  adoption  of  the  new,  as  given  to  his  students 
at  the  time  of  the  change,  in  a  Lecture  entitled — 

ON  THE  RIGHT  ORDER  OF  A  THEOLOGICAL  COURSE. 

I  am  tempted  to  address  you  upon  this  subject,  because 
the  suspicion  which  I  ventured  to  express  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  session,  on  the  common  arrangements 


INTRODUCTION. 


of  our  science,  has  of  late  obtained  what  I  feel  to  be  an 
experimental  verification.  You  may  recollect  the  men- 
tion I  made  some  considerable  time  ago  of  two  different 
orders  in  which  the  lessons  of  the  Christian  theology- 
might  be  delivered,  and  the  principle  of  each  of  them  re- 
spectively.^ The  one  proceeds  chronologically  in  the 
order  of  the  Divine  administration,  beginning  with  the 
constitution  of  the  Godhead,  and  proceeding  onward 
through  the  successive  footsteps  of  a  history  which  com- 
mences with  the  original  purposes  of  the  uncreated  mind, 
and  terminates  in  the  consummation  of  all  things.  The 
other  proceeds  chronologically  in  the  natural  order  of  hu- 
man inquiry,  beginning,  therefore,  with  the  darkness  and 
the  probabilities  and  the  wants  of  natural  theology,  and 
after  having  ascertained  the  Scripture  to  be  a  real  com- 
munication from  heaven  to  earth,  seeking  first  after  those 
announcements  that  are  most  directly  fitted  to  relieve  the 
distress  and  to  meet  the  difficulties  of  nature.  It  is  thus 
that  in  entering  upon  the  record  the  first  thing  that 
would  naturally  attract  the  notice,  is  the  confirmation 
which  it  lends  to  the  apprehensions  and  the  anxieties  of 
nature  respecting  the  fearful  extent  both  of  man's  deprav- 
ity and  of  his  danger ;  whence  we  should  proceed  to  a 
consideration  of  the  offered  remedy  ;  whence  to  the  means 
by  which  that  remedy  is  appropriated ;  whence  to  its 
operation  both  in  reconciling  God  to  man,  and  regener- 
ating man  in  the  likeness  of  God  ;  whence  to  the  progress- 
ive holiness  of  the  life  ripening  and  maturing,  under  the 
influence  of  the  truths  of  Christianity,  for  the  exercises 
and  joys  of  a  blissful  eternity  ;  whence  to  death  and 
judgment,  and  the  respective  destinies  of  those  who  have 

*  See  the  Preface  to  the  first  volume  of  Dr.  Chalmers'  Works. 


INTRODUCTION. 


embraced  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  and  those  who  have 
rejected  it.  You  will  perceive,  that  under  these  two  dis- 
tinct arrangements  the  topics  follow  each  other  in  a  very 
diiferent  order  of  succession.  We  all  along  were  suspi- 
cious of  the  first,  though  it  be  the  very  order  of  almost 
all  the  confessions  and  catechisms  of  Europe,  and  of  the 
great  majority  of  our  authors,  whether  in  the  controver- 
sial or  the  systematic  theology.  Yet  with  all  these  au- 
thorities on  its  side,  we  have  ever  distrusted  the  first,  and 
can  now  say  that  our  entire,  our  decided  preference,  is 
for  the  second. 

You  will  observe  that  there  is  much  the  same  differ- 
ence between  these  two  methods  as  there  is  between  the 
synthetic  and  the  analytic  processes  in  the  exposition  of 
any  other  science.  By  the  synthetic,  you  begin,  as  in 
geometry,  with  the  elementary  principles,  and  out  of  these 
you  compound  the  ultimate  doctrines  or  conclusions  of 
the  science.  By  the  analytic,  you  begin  with  the  objects 
or  the  phenomena  which  first  solicit  your  regards,  and 
these  by  comparison  and  abstraction  you  are  enabled  to 
resolve  into  their  principles.  It  is  evident  that  the  syn- 
thetic treatment  demands  a  full  and  thorough  and  confi- 
dent acquaintance  with  the  subject-matter  to  which  it  is 
applied,  and  withal  a  clear  and  correct  notion  of  the 
primitive  elements  that  enter  into  the  investigation,  lest 
in  the  stream  of  ratiocination  downward  some  original 
flaw  in  the  premises  shall  be  found  to  vitiate  every  de- 
duction that  may  have  issued  from  an  infected  fountain- 
head.  The  analytic,  again,  is  more  applicable  to  a  sub- 
ject where,  instead  of  having  the  principles  to  set  out 
with,  you  have  the  principles  to  seek,  and  so  beginning 
with  the  phenomena  that  are  most  palpable  or  nearest  at 


INTRODUCTION. 


hand,  you,  by  a  reverse  process,  end  where  the  other  be- 
gins. This  latter  mode  is  surely  the  fitter  for  a  science 
beset  on  either  side  with  mysteries  unfathomable — a 
science  all  whose  light  breaks  in  upon  us  by  partial  and 
imperfect  disclosures,  and  where  we  vainly  try  to  find  a 
ligament  or  connecting  principle  between  one  ascertained 
truth  and  another.  With  such  a  science  we  should  feel 
inclined  to  proceed  modo  indagandi  rather  than  modo 
demonstrandi.  And  theology  we  hold  to  be  pre-eminently 
such  a  science — a  science  whose  initial  elements  we  can 
not  pluck  from  the  dark  recesses  of  the  eternity  that  is 
past,  and  whose  ultimate  conclusions  we  can  not  follow 
to  the  like  dark  and  distant  recesses  of  the  eternity  before 
us,  and  which  we  can  therefore  only  explore  to  the  con- 
fines of  the  light  that  has  been  made  to  shine  around  us. 
There  it  is  our  duty  to  stop,  intruding  not  into  the  things 
which  we  have  not  seen,  and  to  wait  in  humble  expec- 
tancy for  the  day  of  a  larger  and  a  brighter  manifestation. 
Now  we  can  not  but  think  it  a  violation  of  this  prin- 
ciple, that  so  early  a  place  should  be  given  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  in  the  common  expositions  of  theology. 
It  seems  to  have  been  a  very  general  conception  that  this 
was  the  way  to  begin  at  the  beginning ;  or,  in  other 
words,  after  having,  by  a  transcendental  flight,  assumed 
our  station  at  the  top  of  the  ladder,  to  move  through  the 
series  of  its  descending  steps  instead  of  climbing  upward 
from  the  bottom  of  it.  Our  movement,  we  think,  should 
be  in  the  last  direction.  We  should  feel  our  way  up- 
ward, and  not,  as  if  already  in  possession  of  the  summit, 
march  with  a  look  of  command  and  an  air  of  demonstra- 
tive certainty  to  the  subordinate  and  dependent  places 
which  are  beneath  us.     We  greatly  fear  that  a  wrong 


INTRODUCTION. 


commencement  and  a  wrong  direction  may  have  infected 
with  a  certain  presumptuous  and  a  priori  spirit  the  whole 
of  our  theology,  and  that  we  address  ourselves  to  its  high 
investigations  more  with  the  conscious  mastery  of  one 
who,  as  from  an  eminence,  eyes  far  and  wide  the  prospect 
that  is  around  him,  than  in  the  attitude  of  humble  in- 
quirers into  the  word  of  God. 

This  consideration  is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  rela- 
tion in  which  the  Natural  stands  to  the  Christian  theol- 
ogy. It  is  wrong  to  say  of  the  one  that  it  is  the  basis 
of  the  other  ;  but  certain  it  is,  that  under  the  promptings 
of  the  one  we  feel  our  way  to  the  other.  We  think  that 
there  is  enough  of  light  in  the  natural  conscience  to 
awaken  the  sense  of  guilt,  and  to  suggest  the  moral,  to 
all  appearance  the  impracticable,  difficulty  which  stands  in 
the  way  of  the  sinner's  acceptance  with  God.  This  is 
the  great  difficulty  in  which  Natural  theology  leaves  us, 
and  this  is  the  very  difficulty  which  Christianity  takes  up 
and  relieves  at  the  very  outset  of  its  proposals  to  the 
world.  This  I  hold  to  be  the  great  place  of  junction  be- 
tween the  Natural  and  the  Christian  theology,  and  we 
just  follow  in  a  continuous  path  when  we  step  over  from 
the  difficulty  in  which  the  one  lands  us  to  the  counterpart 
solution  which  the  other  oifers  us,  from  the  cry  of  distress 
emitted  by  nature  to  the  response  wherewith  that  cry  is 
appeased  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  other  words, 
it  is  only  now  that  we  have  come  in  sight  of  the  place  at 
which  Natural  theology  breaks  off,  and  to  the  place  from 
which  the  Christian  theology  takes  up  the  inquirer,  and 
carries  him  forward  along  the  line  of  her  revelations, 
meeting  him  first  with  the  disclosure  of  the  way  of  his 
acceptance,  and  thence  passing  on  with  other  doctrines 


INTRODUCTION. 


and  disclosures  that  stand  related  to  the  still  higher  ob- 
ject of  his  practical  education  for  the  joys  and  the  exer- 
cises of  heaven.  Between  the  Natural  and  the  Christian 
theology  there  behoved  to  be  interposed  our  inquiry  into 
the  credentials  of  the  Bible ;  but  between  the  last  and 
greatest  desideratum  of  the  Natural,  and  the  counterpart 
doctrine  of  the  Christian  theology,  there  ought  not  to  have 
been  interposed  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 

You  will  remember,  that  at  the  commencement  of  our 
Natural  theology,  I  first  conceived  the  lowest  possible 
state  of  notion  or  belief  on  the  subject  of  a  God,  and  then 
tried  to  demonstrate  that  even  here  there  were  certain 
religious  imaginations  or  thoughts,  to  which  there  were 
certain  religious  duties  that  corresponded.  There  is  thus 
an  ample  principle  of  inquiry  at  the  very  outset,  under 
which  one  might  conceive  all  the  argumentations  and 
surmises  of  the  Natural  theology  to  be  gone  through,  till 
we  have  arrived  at  the  utmost  conjectures  or  discoveries 
which  it  is  capable  of  making.  But  when  we  have 
reached  thus  far,  instead  of  being  landed  in  a  state  of 
satisfaction  and  repose,  we  find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of 
h^avy  and  unresolved  difficulties,  which  create  an  unsated 
appetency  for  more  of  light  and  information  than  nature 
can  supply.  Now,  I  like,  when  entering  on  the  subject- 
matter  of  Christianity,  to  take  up  first  with  those  infor- 
mations which  nature  most  needs,  and  which  nature, 
when  morally  awakened  to  a  sense  of  her  necessities,  is 
most  desirous  of.  I  like  thus  to  connect  the  interroga- 
tions of  the  Natural  with  the  responses  of  the  Christian 
theology  ;  and  that  the  science,  instead  of  being  described 
in  the  order  of  the  history  of  God,  beginning,  therefore, 
with  the  constitution,  and  proceeding  onward  to  the  pur- 


INTRODUCTION. 


poses  and  the  acts  and  the  dispensations,  in  chronological 
series,  of  the  uncreated  mind,  should  be  described  rather 
in  the  order  of  the  history  of  man,  beginning  with  the 
alienation  and  darkness  of  his  moral  nature,  and  proceed- 
ing onward  through  those  truths  which,  acting  success- 
ively upon  him,  introduce  him  to  reconciliation  with  his 
Maker,  and  advance  him  to  the  condition  of  a  blissful 
eternity.  I  am  satisfied  that  this  less  ambitious  way  of 
it  is  better  suited  to  the  real  state  of  the  science,  and  that 
much  of  the  intolerance,  and  much  of  the  unwarrantable 
dogmatism  of  our  systematic  theology  is  owing  to  the 
synthetic  style  of  our  demonstrations.  We  prefer  a  surer 
though  an  humbler  pathway ;  and  one  of  its  principal 
charms  is,  that  the  order  of  our  theoretical  will  thus  be 
made  to  quadrate  with  the  order  of  our  practical  Christ- 
ianity. Our  first  doctrines  will  be  those  which  meet  the 
anxieties  of  the  spirit  in  quest  of  peace  with  God.  The 
second,  those  which  guide  the  disciple's  way  along  the 
progressive  holiness  that  qualifies  him  for  the  pleasures 
and  the  companionships  of  Paradise.  And  the  third,  those 
higher  and  transcendental  themes  which  sublime  the  con- 
templation both  of  the  saint  and  of  the  scholar,  and  shed 
a  certain  mystic  glory  over  the  whole  system  of  Christian- 
ity— themes  of  which  Scripture  hath  given  decisive  infor- 
mation, though  in  respect  of  nature  and  principle  they  are 
above  the  grasp  of  every  earthly  understanding,  and  so  sin- 
gularly suited  to  exercise  the  faith  and  the  wisdom  of 
those  who  are  satisfied  to  know  all  that  the  Bible  tells  of 
them,  and  to  wait  for  their  fuller  revelation  in  heaven.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  we  apprehend,  and  more  especially 
when  made  the  subject  of  a  critical  or  scientific  treatment, 
belongs  not  to  the  first,  but  to  the  last  of  these  divisions. 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 


For  a  far  ulterior,  perhaps  even  an  ultimate  topic  in 
the  subject-matter  of  Christianity,  I  can  not  conceive  a 
fitter  doctrine  than  the  Trinity,  as  a  sort  of  high  and 
concluding  exercise  in  the  science.  There  is  such  clear 
and  resistless  scriptural  evidence  in  behalf  of  the  separate 
propositions,  and  at  the  same  time  something  so  imprac- 
ticable to  reason  in  the  attempt  to  reconcile  them,  that  I 
know  of  no  subject  on  which  the  soundness  of  one's 
Christian  philosophy  is  brought  more  decisively  to  the 
test.  It  requires  the  function  of  a  much  finer  discern- 
ment than  belongs  unfortunately  to  the  bulk  of  theolo- 
gians to  know  when  to  stop  upon  this  subject,  and  to 
separate  the  unmixed  truth  which  is  in  it  from  the  gra- 
tuitous speculation.  I  can  not  imagine  a  more  befitting 
theme  by  which  to  try  both  our  supreme  respect  for  the 
deliverances  of  Scripture,  along  with  utter  distrust  in  our 
own  powers,  when  directed  to  a  matter  that  lies  immeas- 
urably beyond  the  farthest  outskirts  of  that  domain  which 
is  accessible  to  the  human  faculties.  And  then  both  for 
the  varied  Scripture  criticism  which  the  question  demands, 
and  also  for  the  insight  which  it  gives  into  the  principles 
and  even  the  errors  of  the  orthodox,  we  know  of  none 
more  deeply  interesting  to  the  theological  student,  who 
can  not  fail,  from  a  thorough  discussion  of  it,  to  learn 
much  on  the  way  of  settling  opinions  in  theology  by  Bib- 
lical interpretation,  and  much  on  the  history  and  progress 
of  opinions  in  the  Church.  It  is  a  question,  then,  which 
forms  an  indispensable  part  of  your  professional  literature. 
On  this  we  hold  no  dispute — our  only  doubt  was  as  to 
the  rightness  of  the  common  arrangement ;  and  we  now, 
with  a  confidence  which,  in  the  face  of  so  many  authori- 
ties and  examples,  we  really  could  not  have  felt  till  we 


INTRODUCTION. 


had  made  the  trial,  must  declare  it  as  our  purpose  in  all 
time  coming  to  advance  it  to  a  greatly  posterior,  if  not 
to  the  concluding  place  of  all  in  the  order  of  your  theo- 
logical studies. 

Let  it  not  be  imagined  that  we  overlook  the  moral  im- 
portance of  the  doctrine,  or  regard  it  as  of  no  effect  or 
signification  in  respect  of  influence  on  the  other  doctrines 
which  we  propose  to  treat  before  it.  For  example,  we 
hold  it  to  be  of  mighty  operation  and  power  in  enhancing 
every  practical  sentiment  connected  with  our  faith  in  the 
atonement ;  and  should  not  this,  it  may  be  thought,  give 
it  a  precedency  in  the  order  of  our  discussions  ?  To  meet 
this  it  should  be  recollected,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  atonement  is  admitted  to  have  some  in- 
fluence on  the  argumentations  in  behalf  of  the  Trinity ; 
but  the  true  reply  in  this  and  every  other  case  is,  that  long 
anterior  to  the  scientific  establishment  of  any  important 
doctrine  whatever  in  Christianity,  we  have,  in  the  broad 
and  general  aspect  of  revelation,  a  sufficiency  of  evidence 
for  believing  it.  We  might  with  all  safety,  for  example, 
assume  the  divinity  of  Christ,  not,  it  is  true,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  demonstrating  the  truth  of  His  propitiatory  sacri- 
fice, but  for  the  purpose  of  exalting  either  our  confidence 
in  its  efficacy,  or  our  gratitude  for  the  condescension  of 
so  high  a  service.  This  we  might  do  on  the  strength  of 
those  patent  evidences  which  may  be  gathered  in  behalf 
of  every  momentous  truth  in  religion  from  almost  any 
popular  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  adjourning  in  the 
mean  time  its  critical  defense  and  establishment  to  a  pos- 
terior stage  in  the  course.  I  have  often  said  that  in 
Scripture  criticism  the  great  object  is  not  to  discover  but 
to  defend ;  and  for  any  other  purpose  than  that  of  argu- 


r 


INTRODUCTION. 


ment  or  demonstration,  for  the  purpose  of  a  moral  or 
practical  effect,  we  might  avail  ourselves  of  our  discov- 
eries now,  and  defend  afterwards.  There  is  nothing 
unfair  or  illogical  in  this  management,  and  it  is  a  man- 
agement for  which  our  science  possesses  peculiar  suscep- 
tibilities. In  treating,  for  example,  of  the  atonement, 
we  shall  just  advert  as  much  or  as  little  to  the  divinity 
of  the  Son  of  God  and  the  divinity  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
with  these  topics  being  discussed  at  the  termination,  as 
if  discussed  at  the  commencement  of  the  course.  We 
hold  it  incumbent  upon  us  to  vindicate  one  and  all  of 
the  truths  of  Christianity,  on  the  principles  of  solid  crit- 
icism, against  the  adverse  representations  of  heretics ; 
but  this  ought  not  to  affect  the  order  of  exposition  in 
theology,  nor  does  it  present  any  adequate  reason  why 
the  doctrine  of  man's  moral  character  should  not  occupy 
the  first  place,  and  the  doctrine  of  God's  mysterious  con- 
stitution the  last  place  in  the  argumentations  of  our 
science. 

It  may  be  thought,  however,  that  the  effect  of  our 
whole  argument  is  to  establish  the  directest  possible 
censure  upon  ourselves,  seeing  that  we  plead  against 
an  arrangement  which  hitherto  we  ourselves  have  ob- 
served, and  for  an  arrangement  which  ourselves  have 
unquestionably  violated.  In  mitigation  of  the  charge, 
we  may  state  in  the  general,  that  professors,  like  other 
people,  have  just  to  feel  their  way  to  what  is  best ;  and 
more  especially  when  the  meditated  step  is  a  departure 
from  the  established  order,  it  is  infinitely  better  that 
instead  of  being  precipitately  done,  we  should  wait  the 
slow  results  of  observation,  and  have  somewhat  like  the 
firmness  of  an  experimental  basis  to  rest  upon.     It  took 


INTRODUCTION. 


Dr.  Adam  Ferguson  twenty  years  ere  his  course  settled 
down  in  that  very  order  which  conclusively  satisfied  him  ; 
and  in  a  chapter  of  Smith's  "  Wealth  of  Nations,"  we 
have  an  admirable  account  of  the  successive  modelings 
and  remodelings,  session  after  session,  by  which  the  pro- 
fessor ripens  the  work  of  his  class-room  into  a  state  of 
enduring  excellence.  Besides,  we  could  not,  without 
the  satisfaction  of  a  previous  trial,  contravene  the  order 
of  every  system  and  every  text-book  in  theology  that  we 
are  yet  acquainted  with,  or  propose  to  deliver  the  lessons 
of  the  science  by  a  different  succession  of  topics  from 
that  in  which  Calvin  and  Turretin,  Pictetus  and  Vitringa, 
have  delivered  them.  Therefore  it  was  that  after  taking 
leave  of  the  Natural  theology,  we  lifted  ourselves  up  by 
a  transcendental  movement  to  the  most  transcendental 
of  all  the  topics  in  the  Christian  theology.  I  felt  the 
violence  of  the  disruption,  and,  what  was  still  more 
painful,  had  no  doubt  that  the  vast  majority,  if  not  the 
whole  of  the  class,  felt  it  along  with  me.  It  is  any  thing 
but  a  good  introduction  to  the  scientific  study  of  Christ- 
ianity, to  lay  hold,  in  the  first  instance,  of  that  topic  j  . 
which,  among  all  others,  presents  the  aspect  of  an  im- 
practicable enigma,  and  to  unravel  which  we  have  to 
clear  our  way  through  a  ceaseless  mass  of  creeds  and 
criticisms,  the  products  either  of  modern  sophistry  or  of 
ancient  and  scholastic  barbarism.  I  felt  a  want  of  sym- 
pathy, and  what  is  more,  I  dreaded  the  mischief  an  minds 
yet  unpracticed  in  the  science ;  and  though  the  expres- 
sion be  stronger  than  you  perhaps  can  enter  into,  yet  it 
is  not  stronger  than  to  adequately  convey  my  own  sen- 
sations, when,  on  comparing  this  intermediate  period  with 
the   genial  topics  of  our  introductory  months,  and  the 


INTRODUCTION. 


still  more  genial  topics  on  which  we  now  expatiate,  I 
offered  you  my  sincere  congratulations  in  that  we  had 
traversed  the  horrors  of  the  middle  passage.  We  may 
as  well  have  a  middle  passage  no  longer ;  and  I  would 
far  rather  give  the  whole  discussion  a  separate  place  in 
an  appendix  to  the  Course,  than  admit  it  as  a  constituent 
part  at  an  early  stage  of  it.  "We  make  the  alteration, 
but  not,  you  will  allow,  till  after  the  substantial  justice 
and  the  decent  formalities  of  a  full  and  lengthened  trial. 
We  are  glad  to  quit  the  region  of  transcendentals,  and 
alight  upon  earth  among  the  wants,  and  the  feelings,  and 
the  moral  aspirations  of  our  own  familiar  nature.  Instead 
of  looking  first  to  Christianity  at  the  place  where  it  retires 
into  the  viewless  unknown  of  immensity,  we  look  to  it  at 
the  place  where  it  bears  on  the  urgent  necessities  of  the 
human  spirit,  and  holds  forth  an  asylum  to  weary  and 
heavy-laden  men — instead  of  holding  converse  with  her 
in  dark  cabalistic  phraseology  about  the  inaccessible  se- 
crets of  heaven,  we  are  to  hold  converse  with  her  about 
the  duties  and  the  destinies  of  our  own  species.  What 
a  mighty  refreshment  to  the  spirit  when  it  thus  descends 
from  the  mysteries  which  are  far  out  of  view,  and  of 
which  it  can  know  nothing,  to  the  matters  that  lie  within 
the  reach  of  its  discernment,  and  on  its  knowledge  of 
which  there  hinges  the  interest  of  its  eternity ! 


IISTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY 


BOOK  I. 
GENERAL  AND  INTRODUCTOUY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

PRELIMINARY  ETHICS. 

1.  One  science  might  advantageously  be  the  object  of  our 
preHminary  attention  before  entering  on  the  study  of  another, 
although  the  latter  should  not  be  dependent  on  the  former 
for  its  main  evidence,  or  for  the  stability  of  the  foundation 
on  which  it  rests.  It  might  bewell,  notv^^ithstanding,  for 
the  mind  to  have  been  previously  furnished  v^^ith  the  viev^s 
and  principles  of  the  first  at  the  commencement  of  its  sys- 
tematic inquiries  into  the  second,  even  though  no  single 
proposition  in  the  acquired  science  should  be  so  related  to 
any  doctrine  of  the  one  that  is  yet  before  us,  as  the  premise 
of  an  argument  is  to  its  conclusion.  The  study  of  the  Nat- 
ural is  rightly  held  a  proper  introduction  to  the  study  of 
the  Christian  Theology — although  the  latter,  with  its  own 
peculiar  lights  and  its  own  proper  evidences,  is  certainly 
not  based  upon  the  former  in  the  same  way  that  any  system 
of  truth  is  based  on  its  first  and  fundamental  principles.  It 
may  be  right  for  the  student  to  traverse  the  one  theology, 
ere  that,  as  a  student,  he  makes  ingress  either  on  the  evi- 
dences or  subject-matter  of  the  other.  And,  in  like  manner, 
it  might  prove  in  the  highest  degree  serviceable  that  in  the 
order  of  the  sciences  the  study  of  ethics  should  be  anterior 
to  the  study  of  both  these  theologies — of  the  greatest  use,  it 
may  be,  both  in  guiding  us  over  the  new  field  of  investiga- 


INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


tion,  and  determining  the  best  points  of  view  from  which  to 
look  at  the  objects  there  set  before  us,  while  these  objects 
at  the  same  time  may  be  seen  in  their  own  proper  light,  and 
be  shone  upon  by  an  independent  evidence  of  their  own. 
Were  the  dependence  of  the  one  science  upon  the  other,  in 
all  its  parts  and  propositions,  a  strictly  logical  one,  then, 
whatever  of  doubt  or  obscurity  rested  on  the  one,  would,  in 
the  process  of  deduction,  be  necessarily  communicated  to 
the  other  also.  We  disclaim  all  such  connection  between 
the  human  science  of  ethics  and  the  divine  science,  if  not 
of  the  natural,  at  least  of  the  revealed  theology  ;  nor  does 
it  follow  that,  because  moral  philosophy  is  in  the  order  of 
scholarship  a  fit  precursor  to  the  divinity  of  our  halls  and 
colleges,  that  therefore  the  mist  of  its  controverted  ques- 
tions, the  subtlety,  and  so  the  skepticism  of  its  yet  unsettled 
disputations,  shall  bedim  those  truths  which  we  behold  in 
the  light  of  heaven,  and  which  have  been  made  known  to 
us  on  the  faith  of  satisfying  credentials  by  an  authentic  and 
authoritative  voice  from  the  upper  sanctuary.* 

2.  Nevertheless  there  are  certain  important  bearings  in 
which  the  propositions — even  the  yet  unresolved  questions 
of  ethical  science — stand  to  theology  ;  and  of  these  we  now 
proceed  to  give  a  few  specimens. 

3.  The  first  of  these  questions  that  we  shall  notice  is 
perhaps  the  most  general  and  elementary  of  them  all,  as  it 
respects  the  very  substance  or  ground  of  morality,  and  may 
be  put  in  this  form — Wherein  is  it  that  the  rightness  of 
morality  lies  ?  or,  whence  is  it  that  this  rightness  is  derived  ? 
Whether,  more  particularly,  it  have  an  independent  rightness 
of  its  own,  or  it  be  right  only  because  God  wills  it  ?  It 
might  be  proper  to  state  that  between  the  two  terms  of  the 
alternative  as  last  put,  our  clear  preference — or  rather,  our 
absolute  and  entire  conviction — is  on  the  side  of  the  former. 
We  hold  that  morality  has  a  stable,  inherent,  and  essential 
rightness  in  itself,  and  that  anterior  to  or  apart  from,  whether 
the  tacit  or  expressed  will  of  any  being  in  the  universe — 

*  Natural  Theology  not  the  logical  basis  of  the  Christian,  but  an  impellent 
to  the  inquiry  after  it, — See  Gal.  iii.  23,  24. 


PRELIMINARY  ETHICS.  23 

that  it  had  a  subsistence  and  a  character  before  that  any 
creatures  were  made  who  could  be  the  subjects  of  a  will  or 
a  government  at  all,  and  when  no  other  existed  beside  God 
Himself  to  exemphfy  its  virtues  and  it-s  graces.  We,  on 
the  one  hand,  do  not  deny  that  it  is  absolutely  and  in  itself 
right  to  obey  the  will  of  God,  when  we  deny  the  assertion 
of  certain  moralists  who  tell  us  of  all  virtue  that  it  is  right 
only  because  God  wills  it — while  they,  on  the  other  hand, 
cannot  escape  from  the  concession  that  there  is  at  least  one 
virtue  which  has  this  rightness  in  itself,  and  that  is  obedience 
to  the  Divine  will ;  for  if  asked  why  is  it  right  to  obey 
God's  will,  they  cannot  run  it  up  by  the  endlessly-repeating 
process  of  making  always  the  same  thing  the  reason  or 
principle  of  itself,  but  must  stop  short  at  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  a  rightness  in  the  very  nature  of  the  thing,  and 
that  irrespective  of  anything  different  from  or  anterior  to 
itself  into  which  it  can  be  resolved.  But  even  after  this 
matter  has  been  adjusted,  there  remains  this  essential  dif- 
ference betwixt  us.  They  might  allow  that  in  the  virtue 
of  obedience  to  God  there  is  a  native  and  independent 
rightness ;  but  that  no  other  virtue  has  this  property,  for 
that  this  obedience  is  comprehensive  of  all  virtue,  and  that 
every  other  morality  which  can  be  named  is  virtuous  only 
because  God,  the  sovereign  Legislator,  in  framing  the  arti- 
cles of  His  own  code  of  government  or  law,  hath  so  ordained 
it.  Now  it  is  here  that  we  join  issue  with  our  antagonists, 
and  affirm  that  God  is  no  more  the  Creator  of  virtue  than 
He  is  of  truth — that  justice  and  benevolence  were  virtues 
previous  to  any  forthputting  of  will  or  jurisprudence  on 
His  part,  and  that  He  no  more  ordained  them  to  be  virtues, 
than  He  ordained  that  the  three  angles  of  a  triangle  should 
be  equal  to  two  right  angles.  The  moral  and  the  mathe- 
matical propositions  have  been  alike  the  objects  of  the 
divine  approbation  and  the  divine  perception  from  all  eter- 
nity ;  but  He  no  more  willed  the  rightness  of  the  one  or 
the  reahty  of  the  other,  than  He  willed  Himself  into  being, 
or  willed  what  should  be  the  virtues  of  His  own  character, 
or  what  the  constitution  of  His  own  understanding.    There 


24  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

is  a  wrong  order  Iq  the  conceptions  of  those  moralists  who 
resolve  the  virtuousness  of  moraUty  either  in  respect  of  its 
essence  or  its  foundation  into  the  law  of  God. 

4.  The  resolution  of  all  virtue  into  the  will  of  God  has 
been  designated  the  theological  system  of  morals,  and  they 
who  hold  it  have  had  the  title  given  to  them  of  theological 
moralists.  Whether  this  have  been  meant  as  a  stigma  on 
our  profession  or  not,  the  principle  on  which  it  has  been 
affixed  to  us  is  one  that  we  disclaim  as  alike  inconsistent 
with  sound  ethics  and  sound  theology.  We  can  never  con- 
sent to  a  proposition  so  monstrous  as  that,  if  an  arbitrary 
God  had  chosen  to  reverse  all  the  articles  of  the  decalogue, 
He  would  thereby  have  presented  the  universe  with  a  re- 
verse morality  that  should  be  henceforth  binding  in  point 
of  duty  and  rectitude  on  all  His  creatures.  Vice  and  virtue 
cannot  thus  be  made  to  change  places  at  the  will  or  by  the 
ordination  of  any  power,  whether  dependent,  or  original 
and  uncreated ;  and  the  same  God  of  whom  it  has  been  so 
emphatically  said  that  He  cannot  lie,  can  neither  alter  the 
characteristics  nor  repeal  the  obligations  of  a  morality 
which  is  immutable  and  everlasting. 

5.  And  let  it  not  be  said  that  we  hereby  detract  from  the 
high  prerogatives  of  the  Eternal,  or  exalt  a  mere  abstraction 
over  the  living  Deity,  by  saying  of  morahty  that  it  is  prior 
to  His  will  and  independent  of  His  ordination.  We  disso- 
ciate not  virtue  from  the  Godhead — for  apart  from  Him,  it 
is  but  a  shadowy  and  abstract  conception  existing  only  in 
the  region  of  the  ideal ;  and  nowhere  but  in  His  character, 
unchanged  and  unchangeable,  has  it  existed  from  everlast- 
ing as  a  concrete  and  substantive  reality.  In  the  Divinity 
alone  it  is  that  virtue  has  its  fountainhead  and  its  being — 
not,  however,  in  the  fountainhead  of  the  divine  will ;  but 
higher  than  this  and  anterior  to  this,  in  the  fountainhead  of 
the  divine  nature.  It  is  not  the  will  of  God  which  deter- 
mines His  nature  ;  but  the  nature  of  God  which  determines 
His  will.  That  is  a  code  of  pure  and  perfect  righteousness 
which  is  graven  on  the  tablet  of  the  divine  jurisprudence. 
But  it  did  not  originate  there,  for  there  it  is  but  a  transcript 


PRELIMINARY  ETHICS.  25 

from  the  prior  tablet  of  the  divine  character.  Virtue  is  not 
right  because  God  wills  it,  but  God  wills  it  because  it  is 
right.  The  moral  has  antecedency  to  the  juridical — having 
had  its  stable  and  everlasting  residence  in  the  constitution 
of  the  Deity,  before  that  He  w^illed  it  into  a  law  for  the 
government  of  His  creatures.* 

6.  This  argument  is  alike  applicable  both  to  the  creden- 
tials of  Revelation  and  to  its  practical  lessons.  For  one  can 
image  a  professed  message  from  heaven  resting  its  preten- 
sions on  the  evidence  of  undoubted  miracles,  yet  in  its  sub- 
ject-matter palpably  and  glaringly  immoral.  There  would 
be  no  perplexity  in  this,  if  we  could  believe  that  it  was  the 
law  of  God  which  constituted  morality — for  w^hatever  the 
character  of  those  mandates  might  be  which  came  to  us 
from  the  upper  sanctuary,  the  very  fact  of  their  issuing 
thence  could  of  itself  turn  vice  into  virtue,  and  sanctify 
every  utterance  that  thus  fell  upon  the  world,  because  with 
a  voice  of  authority  from  the  throne  of  God.  But  if  moral- 
ity be  not  thus  the  creature  of  ordination,  if  it  be  fixed  and 
everlasting  as  is  the  nature  of  Deity  itself,  and  if  the  image 
of  God  in  which  man  was  formed,  not  yet  altogether  effaced, 
still  remain  with  him  in  some  of  its  lights  and  lineaments- 
then  might  he,  too,  recognize  that,  and  nothing  else,  to  be 
righteous,  which  has  been  the  object  of  God's  perfect  dis- 
cernment and  perfect  love  from  all  eternity.  There  might 
thus  have  arisen  a  serious  and  inextricable  dilemma,  had 
the  external  revelation  come  into  conflict  w^ith  the  internal 
sense  in  a  man's  own  breast  of  what  is  morally  good  or 
morally  evil.  If,  in  opposition  to  our  mathematical  sense, 
we  had  been  told  by  one  in  the  character  of  a  prophet,  and 
who  worked  miracles  in  support  of  his  claim,  that  two  and 
two  made  five — the  very  announcement  would  have  dark- 
ened all  the  prior  evidences  of  his  mission,  and  thrown  us 
back  if  not  into  a  state  of  positive  disbelief,  at  least  of  dis- 
tressing skepticism.     And  the  same  would  ensue,  if  in  op- 

*  The  morally  right  is  anterior  to  law,  nay,  was  exemplified  from  all  eter- 
nity in  the  nature  before  it  was  enacted  by  the  will  and  authority  of  God. 
Psalm  cxvi.  5 ;  xix.  8  ;  Eph.  vi.  1 ;  Phil,  iv.  8. 
VOL.  VII. — B 


26  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY, 

position  to  our  moral  sense,  cruelty  or  falsehood  or  injustice 
had  been  canonized  and  enjoined  as  virtues.  It  is  thus  that 
our  present  argument  bears  directly  on  the  proofs  of  rev- 
elation, and  lays  open  at  least  one  ligament  of  connection 
between  ethics  and  theology.  Should  the  morals  and  mira- 
cles of  the  gospel  stand  to  each  other  as  opposing  forces — 
the  one  might  neutralize  the  other  •,  and  the  whole  external 
evidence  of  the  record  be  nullified  by  the  internal  difficul- 
ties which  lay  in  its  subject-matten  But  if,  instead  of  this, 
they  operate  as  conspiring  forces — if,  besides  the  historical 
evidence  for  its  miracles,  we  can  allege  the  purity  and  ex- 
cellence of  its  morals,  then  instead  of  a  balance  ending  per- 
haps in  a  cancelment  or  mutual  destruction,  there  might  be 
a  summation  of  arguments  ;  and  the  conviction  grounded  on 
the  testimonies  both  of  first  and  of  subsequent  witnesses, 
be  enhanced  by  other  reasons  drawn  from  other  and  dis- 
tinct quarters  of  contemplation, 

7.  But  the  speculation  which  now  engages  us  is  not  only 
applicable  to  the  object  of  settling  our  belief  in  the  truth  of 
the  Christian  revelation,  it  is  alike  applicable  to  the  work 
-^  of  urging  and  enforcing  its  lessons.  The  rightness,  the  ab- 
solute and  independent  rightness,  of  any  grace  or  virtue,  is 
not  to  be  lost  sight  of  by  the  preachers  of  gospel  morality; 
for  certainly  it  w^as  not  lost  sight  of  by  the  first  teachers  and 
apostles  of  our  faith — ^it  being  not  only  present  as  a  con- 
sideration to  their  own  minds,  but  urged  as  a  motive  on  the 
observance  of  their  disciples — "  Children,  obey  your  parents 
in  the  Lord, /or  this  is  right"  Nothing  can  be  more  un- 
questionable than  the  rightness  of  our  obedience  to  God ; 
and  this  singly,  or  of  itself,  is  sufficient  to  infuse  the  element 
of  moral  obligation  into  every  mandate  which  proceedetb 
from  His  mouth.  But  even  in  the  eye  of  His  own  messen- 
gers, this  did  not  overshadov/  the  native  and  inherent  right- 
ness of  that  which  is  enjoined  by  Him ;  and  so,  instead  of 
resting  exclusively  on  the  naked  authority  of  God,  we  find 
them  making  a  direct  appeal  to  the  moral  judgments  of  men 
— mingling  as  it  were  the  transcendental  light  of  heaven 
with  the  light  of  nature  in  human  consciences ;  and  meeting 


PRELIMINARY  ETHICS.  27 

with  a  response  and  a  manifestation  there,  when  they  dealt 
in  those  lessons,  which  were  not  only  backed  by  all  the  au- 
thority of  that  inspiration  wherewith  they  were  charged,  but 
the  rightness  of  which  might  without  inspiration  be  read  and 
recognized  of  all  men.  There  is  an  obvious  respect  both 
for  the  voice  within  the  heart  of  individual  man,  and  for  the 
collective  voice  of  society  in  the  following  memorable  de- 
liverance— "  Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever  things  are  true, 
whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely, 
whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report,  if  there  be  any  vir- 
tue and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things." 

8.  The  next  theory  of  virtue  which  we  propose  briefly  to 
consider,  is  the  utilitarian  system  of  morals,  based  on  the 
experience  that  nothing  is  morally  good  which  is  not  useful 
— an  experience  which  even  though  it  held  universally,  does 
not  of  itself  warrant  the  conclusion  which  has  been  raised 
upon  it — that  it  is  the  usefulness  of  any  given  act  or  habit 
which  constitutes  its  virtuousness,  or  in  which  its  virtuous- 
ness  altogether  lies.  This  was  strenuously  advocated  by 
Hume,  and  is  identically  the  system  of  our  present  utilitari- 
ans. The  elements  of  its  conclusive  refutation  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Sermons  of  Bishop  Butler.  But  our  object  at 
present  is  not  so  much  to  estimate  the  soundness  of  any 
ethical  dogma,  as  to  point  out  the  bearing  which  its  subject- 
matter  has  on  the  science  of  theology. 

9.  This  system  is  subject  to  the  like  modifications  with 
that  which  we  have  already  considered,  and  which  has  been 
denominated  or  stigmatized  as  the  theological  system  of 
morals.  It  is  true  that  to  do  the  will  of  God  is  a  virtue, 
yet  it  follows  not  that  in  this  and  this  alone  the  rightness  of 
all  virtue  lies ;  and  it  is  also  true  that  God  wills  all  virtue, 
yet  it  follows  not  that  all  morality  is  virtuous  only  because 
God  wills  it.  In  like  manner,  to  do  or  desire  that  which  is 
useful  is  one  of  the  virtues,  and  one  of  high  eminence  in  the 
scale,  but  it  may  not  on  that  account  form  the  essence  or 
constituting  quality  of  all  the  virtues ;  and  it  may  be  also 
true,  that  all  virtue  is  useful,  and  yet  that  much  of  virtue  has 
a  rightness  and  obligation  in  itself  apart  from  its  usefulness. 


2g  IxNSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

With  these  points  of  analogy,  however,  between  the  two 
systems,  there  is  one  respect  in  which  they  differ  most  glar- 
ingly. In  the  first,  God  is  regarded  by  its  advocates  as  all 
in  all,  and  rightly,  had  they  .but  kept  free  of  their  mistake 
in  dating  the  origin  of  morality  from  the  will  of  God,  when 
they  should  have  dated  it  from  His  uncreated  and  essential 
nature.  In  the  second,  God  may  be  said  to  be  altogether 
excluded,  there  being  no  account  taken  by  its  disciples  of 
either  His  character  or  will.  We  have  but  to  imagine  our- 
selves placed  under  a  different  economy,  with  such  other 
laws,  whether  of  the  mental  or  material  constitution,  as  that 
vice  should  yield  a  greater  amount  of  happiness  than  virtue 
— and  then  virtue  and  vice  would  instantly  change  places. 
Morality,  instead  of  being  referred  to  the  pre-existent  char- 
acter of  God,  or  being  the  prescription  of  divine  authority, 
becomes  the  mere  product  of  human  experience — what  man 
finds  to  be  most  useful  being  the  rule  and  the  standard  of 
duty.  The  former  has  been  called  the  theological  system 
of  morals.  It  might  be  harsh  to  denominate  the  other  the 
atheistical  system  of  morals  ;  but  certain  it  is  that  its  prin- 
ciples, and  all  the  materials  for  its  regular  construction,  can 
be  found  and  put  together  without  so  much  as  the  recogni- 
tion of  a  God.  It  were  a  system  which  might  be  fi'amed 
by  atheists,  though  in  itself  so  defective  and  unpractical  as 
not  to  be  the  best  fitted  for  meeting  the  exigencies  even  of 
a  state  of  atheism. 

10.  On  this  question,  too,  there  hinges  an  argument  for  a 
God,  which  is  either  nullified  or  made  good  according  as  it 
is  determined — whether  morality  lies  in  usefulness  alone, 
or,  in  itself  the  object  of  our  simple  and  direct  perception,  it 
has  an  underived  primary  and  peculiar  character  of  its  own? 
Should  the  former  opinion  be  adopted,  then  to  affirm  the 
usefulness  of  morality,  is  but  to  affirm  an  identical  proposi- 
tion— a  mere  verbal  or  logical  or  necessary  truism,  from 
which  no  inference  can  be  drawn.  Should  the  other  and 
we  hold  the  sounder  opinion  be  adopted — then  to  affirm  the 
usefulness  of  morality  is  to  affirm  the  actual  conjunction  of 
two  different  things,  which  are  separable  in  idea,  and  might 


PRELIMINARY  ETHICS.  29 

have  been  separate  in  fact,  but  for  the  determination  of  that 
power  which  hath  ordained  the  laws  and  the  connections  of 
our  actual  universe.  If  righteousness  on  the  one  hand,  and 
usefulness  on  the  other,  be  two  distinct  categories — then, 
not  in  their  unity,  but  in  their  union,  do  we  behold  a  contin- 
gency which  of  itself  affords  the  glorious  manifestation  of  a 
presiding  morahty  in  the  system  of  our  w^orld.  If  it  indeed 
be  true  that  a  universal  virtue  would,  under  the  actual  econ- 
omy of  things,  bring  a  universal  happiness  in  its  train,  and 
that  generally  the  miseries  and  manifold  discomforts  of  hu- 
man existence  can  be  traced  to  deviations  from  the  rule  of 
rectitude — there  cannot  be  a  more  complete  experimental 
demonstration  of  the  regimen  under  which  we  live  being 
indeed  a  regimen  of  virtue.  But  virtue  by  itself  is  but  an 
abstraction,  a  character  which  without  a  being  is  efficient 
of  nothing,  but  which  as  the  efficient  cause  of  the  system 
in  which  we  are  placed,  and  all  the  laws  and  tendencies  of 
which  are  so  palpably  on  the  side  of  righteousness,  infers  a 
real  and  living  and  withal  a  righteous  sovereign.  The  util- 
itarian system  of  morals  would  make  this  argument  void,  or 
at  least  cast  an  obscuration  over  it,  while  the  orthodox  and 
accredited  system  restores  to  it  that  full  effect  and  clearness 
and  significancy  which  makes  it  distinctly  available  for  the 
demonstration  of  a  God.  This  affords  another  specimen  of 
the  bearing  which  subsists  between  these  cognate  themes 
of  academic  discipline  and  instruction — or  another  proof 
how  intimately  blended  the  two  sciences  of  ethics  and  the- 
ology are  with  each  other. 

11.  If  utility  be  virtue,  then,  in  some  other  economy  of 
things  taken  at  random,  it  is  imaginable  both  of  mind  and 
matter  as  so  differently  constituted,  that  society  might  have 
found  its  greatest  happiness  in  a  morality  the  reverse  in  all 
its  characteristics  to  that  which  now  commands  and  unites 
the  suffrages  of  mankind.  At  this  rate  the  moral  is  but  the 
handmaid  of  the  physical;  and  virtue  becomes  a  mere  de- 
rivative— a  manufacture  out  of  the  existent  materials  and 
laws  of  the  actual  system,  whatever  that  may  be.  It  is 
difficult  to  see  how  an  ethics  thus  framed  and  originated 


30  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

could  at  all  help  to  build  up  a  theology,  or  could  contribute 
any  evidence  for  a  God.  Not  so  if  virtue,  instead  of  an 
originated  product,  is  an  original  principle,  in  conformity  to 
which,  at  the  same  time,  a  world  has  been  so  constructed 
and  ordained  that  the  greatest  enjoyment  of  those  who  live 
m  it  would  be  the  result  of  a  general  adherence  to  its  lessons 
and  its  rules.  We  should  say  of  the  natural  government  of 
such  a  world,  that  it  was  a  government  of  virtue.  But  as 
we  could  not  rest  in  aught  so  imaginary  and  ideal  as  the 
government  of  a  mere  abstraction,  we  should  pass  from  the 
abstract  to  the  concrete,  and  find  a  residence  for  this  virtue 
in  some  Being  who  realized  upon  His  own  character  its 
perfection  and  its  graces.  In  other  words,  let  virtue  be 
distinct  from  utility,  yet  ours  be  a  world  so  constituted  as 
that  utility  is  the  actual  and  the  universal  product  of  virtue 
— then,  instead  of  stopping  short  at  a  generality  or  a  name, 
we  should  find  our  way  to  a  living  God  ;  and  from  such  a 
natural  government  of  righteousness  as  this,  would  instantly 
conclude  for  at  once  a  righteous  and  a  reigning  Governor. 
12.  But  let  us  now  descend  to  certain  of  the  particular 
virtues,  and  notice  more  expressly  the  views  of  those  specu- 
lators in  ethical  science  who  look  on  truth  and  justice  as 
having  no  distinct  or  independent  virtuousness  of  their  own, 
but  as  being  the  mere  offshoots  or  modifications  of  benevo- 
lence, their  one  great  and  all-pervading  morality.  Nothing 
can  be  more  obvious  than  the  vast  and  important  subservi- 
ency both  of  truth  and  justice  to  the  cause  of  usefulness, 
whereof  in  fact  they  are  the  direct  and  indispensable  minis- 
ters in  the  converse  and  mutual  transactions  which  take 
place  between  man  and  man  in  society.  Yet  it  follows  not 
that  these  are  virtues,  because  of  this  subserviency  alone ; 
or  that  to  their  beneficial  influence  on  the  affairs  of  the 
world,  the  whole  of  their  moral  rectitude  or  moral  obliga- 
tion is  owing.  Certain  it  is  that  when  men  either  fulfill  a 
promise,  or  pay  a  debt,  or  deliver  a  conscientious  testimony, 
they  do  so  without  any  respect  held  by  the  mind  to  the 
usefulness  of  these  observances,  or  any  consideration  of  this 
element  being  at  the  time  present  with  it.     They,  again, 


PRELIMINARY  ETHICS. 


who  would  vindicate  the  analogies  by  which  they  resolve 
all  the  virtues  into  benevolence  alone,  tell  us  of  the  extrenae 
rapidity  of  our  mental  transitions — so  rapid  and  so  fugitive 
as  to  pass  unnoticed,  or  with  a  celerity  too  evanescent  for 
human  consciousness.  It  might  well  be  replied  that  this  is 
a  confession  of  a  total  want  of  positive  evidence  for  their 
theory ;  and  that  it  seems  a  very  insufficient  basis  for  any 
doctrine,  thus  to  ground  it  on  an  argumentum  ah  ignorantia. 
But  without  entering  into  the  controversy  any  farther,  it  is 
enough  for  our  purpose  that  we  state  the  sides  of  it ;  or  that 
while  the  one  party  would  claim  for  truth  and  justice  and 
holiness  an  independent  status  as  moral  virtues,  co-ordinate 
with,  while  distinct  from  the  virtue  of  benevolence — the 
other  party  contend,  that  not  only  in  the  system  of  abstract 
ethics  are  they  all  reducible  to  benevolence  alone,  but  that 
when  lifting  our  contemplations  to  the  character  of  Him 
who  is  supreme  and  eternal,  though  we  speak  of  His  various 
moral  perfections  as  if  they  stood  apart  or  had  a  substantive 
distinctness  from  each  other,  yet  all  are  briefly  compre- 
hended in  this  saying — that  God  is  love. 

13.  Now  we  do  not  advance  it  as  a  full  and  definite  solu- 
tion, because  too  well  aware  of  the  confusion  and  mischief 
which  have  ensued  from  making  inroad  by  the  proper  views 
and  principles  of  one  science  on  the  distinct  territory  of  an- 
other ;  yet  we  can  see  that  at  least  one  doctrine  in  the 
Christian  theology,  and  that  of  weightiest  importance  among 
them  all,  might  well  serve  to  strengthen  and  confirm  the 
advocates  of  the  former  opinion — we  mean  the  doctrine  of 
the  atonement.  In  this  great  and  solemn  transaction,  de- 
vised in  heaven  and  consummated  on  earth,  there  seems  a 
wondrous  homage  to  the  high  claims  and  the  immutable 
authority  of  that  truth  and  that  justice  which  stood  in  the 
way  of  a  world's  reconciliation ;  and  to  provide  for  which 
in  a  manner  consistent  with  these  sacred  attributes,  was 
that  mystery  of  the  divine  jurisprudence  which  angels  de- 
sired to  look  into.  The  raising  of  such  an  apparatus,  if  we 
may  so  express  it,  as  that  of  a  redemption  by  sacrifice,  and 
this  in  order  to  harmonize  the  overtures  of  mercv  to  our 


INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


guilty  species,  with  the  high  prerogatives  of  that  law  which 
they  had  violated,  speaks  powerfully  to  our  apprehension 
for  the  underived  and  original  character  of  those  great 
moral  perfections  which  were  exhibited  and  put  forth  by 
God  in  the  high  capacity  of  a  Lawgiver — of  that  justice 
which  both  ordained  and  executes  the  law,  and  of  that  truth 
■which  stood  committed  to  the  enforcement  of  its  penalties. 
If  that  system  which  affirms  the  separate  and  independent 
virtuousness  of  these  high  characteristics  be  entitled  from 
the  number  and  authority  of  its  supporters  to  the  appella- 
tion of  the  orthodox  system  of  morals,  then  is  it  interesting 
here  to  observe  so  close  a  relationship  of  the  two  sciences, 
and  how  at  this  place  of  meeting  between  them,  the  ortho- 
dox ethics  and  the  orthodox  theology  are  at  one.* 

14.  This  example  will  make  apparent,  we  hope,  the 
soundness  of  our  observation  on  the  study  of  ethics  as  a 
useful  preliminary  to  the  study  of  theological  science. 
While  at  the  same  time  this  latter  science,  this  theology, 
rests  and  is  mainly  supported,  not  on  the  lessons  of  any 
previous  science,  but  on  a  proper  and  independent  evidence 
of  its  own.  Who,  for  instance,  should  ever  think  of  basing 
the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  on  any  ethical  category 
whatever  ? — or  of  making  it  hinge  on  the  determination  of 
the  question,  whether  truth  and  justice  have  in  themselves 
an  intrinsic  or  only  a  subordinate  and  derived  virtuousness? 
Let  this  controversy  be  settled  as  it  may,  the  previous  truth 
of  our  atonement  stands  on  the  same  unaltered  and  im- 
pregnable footing  as  before — even  on  the  clear  averments 
of  a  perfect  revelation,  having  distinct  and  satisfying  cre- 
dentials to  authenticate  the  reality  of  its  descent  from  the 
upper  sanctuary.  And  yet  it  is  well  for  the  thoughtful  in- 
quirer, that  he  should  bring  this  great  theological  proposi- 
tion into  contact  and  comparison  with  the  dogmata  of  his 
prior  school ;  and  that  he  should  enjoy  the  reflex  light  and 
confirmation  which  it  casts  on  his  earlier  and  more  element- 

*  The  harmony  which  subsists  between  the  doctrine  of  an  inclepeudent 
virtuousness  in  justice  and  truth,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement,— Rom. 
iii.  26  ;  Is.  xlii.  21 ;  Ps.  Ixxxv.  10. 


PRELIMINARY  ETHICS.  33 

ary  studies.  It  is  interesting  to  remark  that  the  meager 
theology  which  disowns  an  atonement  and  denies  the  need 
of  one,  chiefly  prevails  among  the  disciples  of  the  utilitarian 
philosophy,  or  those  who  would  resolve  all  the  perfections 
of  the  Almighty  into  the  single  attribute  of  benevolence ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  they  who  have  been  accustomed 
to  view  truth  and  justice  as  in  themselves  the  objects  of 
direct  and  ultimate  recognition,  if  they  carry  this  contem- 
plation upward  to  the  throne  of  heaven,  will  regard  Him- 
who  sitteth  thereon  as  the  Sovereign  as  well  as  Parent  of 
the  human  family.  They  will  feel  that  not  only  is  a  tender- 
ness to  be  indulged,  but  an  authority  to  be  upheld  and 
vindicated ;  and  should  they  contrast  aright  the  sinfulness 
of  man  with  the  sacredness  of  God,  will  they  prize  the 
revealed  doctrine  of  the  atonement  as  they  would  the  alone 
specific  for  a  mortal  and  universal  disease  which  had  come 
upon  the  species — the  best  suited  to  the  moral  exigencies 
of  our  nature,  and  so  the  worthiest  of  all  acceptation. 

15.  For  our  next  example  of  a  close  and  interesting  ap- 
plication between  the  two  sciences  of  ethics  and  theology, 
would  we  now  select,  not  any  controverted  doctrine,  but 
rather  an  aphorism  or  undoubted  axiom  of  the  former  science. 
It  might  be  announced  with  all  the  certainty  of  a  first  prin- 
ciple, that  nothing  is  virtuous,  or  vicious  either,  which  is  not 
voluntary.  Ere  an  act,  or  a  disposition,  or  a  mental  state 
of  whatever  kind,  can  become  susceptible  of  a  moral  desig- 
nation, can  be  rightly  characterized  either  as  morally  good 
or  morally  evil,  the  will  must  have  somehow  had  to  do  with 
it,  either  as  an  immediate  or  remote  antecedent,  which  gave 
occasion  or  birth  to  the  thing  in  question.  This  is  a  pro- 
position which  requires  no  argument  to  carry  it,  for  it  must 
command  the  instant  assent  of  every  conscience.  Whether 
it  be  a  deed,  or  a  desire,  or  a  belief  on  which  we  are  called 
to  pass  sentence,  the  choice  must  have  had  some  part  in  it 
before  it  can  come  within  the  scope  of  a  moral  or  judicial 
reckoning  at  all,  or  be  properly  the  subject  either  of  moral 
blame  or  moral  approbation.  In  other  words,  we  must  be 
able  to  allege  that  a  volition  which  should  or  should  not  have 


34  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

been  put  forth  has  had  some  concern  in  the  matter,  ere  we 
can  say  of  anything  that  either,  on  the  one  hand,  this  is  its 
praise,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  that  this  is  its  condemnation. 

16.  Now,  it  may  be  thought,  that  this  as  being  a  truism 
rather  than  a  truth,  scarcely  deserves  the  formahty  of  so 
express  an  introduction  to  the  notice  of  the  mind.  Yet  we 
have  thus  signahzed  it,  and  that  notwithstanding  its  extreme 
simplicity  or  obviousness ;  for  though  plain  in  itself  as  the 
lesson  of  any  school-boy,  it,  like  other  initial  or  elementary 
principles,  teems  with  the  weightiest  and  most  important 
appHcations.  For  instance,  it  is  by  the  help  of  this  princi- 
ple, and  we  think  in  no  other  w^ay,  that  we  establish  the 
important  position  of  a  man's  responsibility  for  his  belief; 
and  that  we  can  point  out  wherein  lies  the  criminality  of 
wrong  affections  ;  and  that  we  can  even  vindicate  the  trans- 
cendental, or,  as  some  would  term  it,  the  hard  and  revolt- 
ing dogma  of  predestination,  from  the  aspersions  cast  upon 
it  as  at  war  with  the  moral  sense  of  mankind,  and  subversive 
of  all  moral  government.  We  do  not  say  of  ethical  science 
alone,  dealing  as  it  does  only  with  abstractions,  that  of  itself 
it  is  competent  to  these  achievements.  But  the  ethical 
principle  which  we  have  just  announced  enters  into  and 
forms  an  essential  part  of  these  various  demonstrations,  to 
complete  which,  however,  we  must  have  recourse  to  the 
phenomena  and  laws  of  the  mental  physiology — a  depart- 
ment on  which  we  propose  to  set  foot  afterwards.  Mean- 
while v^e  think  it  right  to  single  out  for  special  notice  and 
recollection  that  maxim  in  ethics  by  which  the  manifesta- 
tions now  promised  can  in  our  view  be  abundantly  made 
good  ;  and  the  theology  of  our  evangelical  system,  in  full 
accordance  with  all  that  is  sacred  in  the  academic  philo- 
sophy, can  be  amply  justified  against  the  indignation  and 
abuse  that  have  been  heaped  upon  it.* 

17.  There  is  still  another  lesson  given  forth  by  ethical 
writers  wherewith  it  were  well  if  the  student  of  theology 

*  That  for  any  act  or  disposition  to  be  susceptible  of  a  moral  designation, 
whether  of  blame  or  of  approval,  the  will  must  have  to  do  with  it — John  iii. 
19 ;  V.  40 ;  ^ii.  17. 


PRELIMINARY  ETHICS-  35 


could  make  himself  familiar,  and  carry  forth  to  its  right  and 
legitimate  bearings  on  the  questions  of  his  own  science. 
We  advert  to  the  distinction  made  by  them  between  the 
duties  of  perfect  and  imperfect  obligation.  That  is  a  virtue 
of  perfect  obligation  where,  corresponding  to  the  duty  on 
one  side,  there  is  a  counterpart  right  upon  the  other.  Truth 
and  justice  are  virtues  of  this  class.  If  I  make  a  promise  to 
any  man,  it  is  not  only  my  duty  to  fulfill  the  same,  but, 
counterpart  to  this,  I  have  invested  him  with  a  right  to 
exact  it  of  me.  If  I  even  but  deliver  a  testimony  in  his 
hearing,  it  is  my  duty  to  be  most  scrupulously  accurate ; 
and  he,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a  right  upon  my  faithfulness. 
Should  either  of  these  turn  out  to  be  false  then,  unless  from 
my  want  of  power  or  knowledge  I  could  not  have  helped 
it,  has  he  a  right  to  complain  of  an  injury — in  the  first  in- 
stance, that  I  have  disappointed,  in  the  second,  have  deceived 
him ;  in  the  one  case  by  raising  in  his  mind  a  treacherous 
expectation,  and  in  the  other,  a  wrong  belief.  Then,  pass- 
ing on  from  truth  to  justice,  should  I  contract  a  bargain 
with  another,  it  is  not  only  my  duty  to  make  good  its  terms, 
but  it  is  his  right  to  demand  the  execution  of  them ;  or  should 
I  owe  him  a  debt,  it  is  not  only  my  duty  to  render,  but  it  is 
his  right  to  enforce  the  payment  of  it.  These  cases  make 
quite  clear  what  that  is  which  constitutes  a  duty  of  perfect 
obligation ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  w^e  might  exemplify  in 
like  manner  those  of  the  imperfect  class — w'here  there  is  a 
duty  on  the  one  side,  but  no  corresponding  right  upon  the 
other.  It  is  my  duty  to  forgive  a  wrong ;  but  it  were  a 
contradiction  in  terms  to  say  of  the  culprit  who  had  com- 
mitted the  wrong,  that  he  had  a  right  to  this  forgiveness.  It 
is  my  duty  to  give  of  my  own  to  the  necessitous  around  me ; 
but  it  were  a  like  contradiction  to  speak  of  their  right  to  this 
liberality — for  whatever  they  have  a  right  to,  is  not  my  own, 
is  not  mine,  but  theirs ;  or,  in  other  words,  their  right  to  a 
thing  makes  that  thing  their  property,  and  in  giving  it  to  them 
"we  fulfill  not  an  act  of  liberality  but  of  justice.  Benevolence 
is  an  undoubted  duty ;  but  it  involves  a  paralogism  to  say 
of  any  man  that  he  has  a  right  to  my  benevolence,  and  pro- 


36  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ceeds  on  the  mistake  of  confounding  two  virtues  which  are 
essentially  distinct  from  each  other — the  virtues  of  justice 
and  humanity.  Benevolence  is  my  duty  to  him,  but  it  is  not 
therefore  his  right  upon  me ;  and  so,  in  terms  of  the  usual 
definition  given  by  moralists,  benevolence,  in  its  various  mod- 
ifications and  forms,  is  still  a  virtue  of  imperfect  obligation. 

18.  The  distinction,  though  it  sounds  somewhat  scholas- 
tically,  and  has  so  far  fallen  into  desuetude  that  many  look 
upon  it  as  exploded,  is  still  an  eminently  practical  one,  and 
of  capital  importance  in  the  business  of  legislation.  Some 
of  the  greatest  errors  into  which  statesmen  have  fallen  have 
arisen  from  the  neglect  of  it.  The  proper  object  of  law  is 
to  enforce  the  duties  of  perfect,  but  not  those  of  imperfect 
obligation.  It  is  to  make  sure  for  each  man  the  undisturbed 
possession  of  his  rights,  which  it  does  by  repressing  the  in- 
fraction of  them  ;  or  what  is  tantamount  to  this,  the  great 
use  and  function  of  law  in  society  is  to  protect  the  members 
of  it  from  wrong.  And  thus  it  is  that  it  has  to  deal  prin- 
cipally and  pre-eminently  with  questions  of  justice  between 
man  and  man  ;  but  never  was  a  greater  blunder  committed 
than  when,  overstepping  her  own  boundaries,  law,  not  satis- 
fied with  the  enforcement  of  justice,  aimed  further  at  the 
enforcement  of  humanity.  It  does  not  lie  within  the  province 
of  human  law  to  compel  those  duties  on  the  part  of  one  man, 
for  which  there  is  no  correspondent  right  on  the  part  of  any 
other  man.  They  may  be  morally  binding  ;  but  it  is  by  an 
unwarrantable  stretch  beyond  the  limits  of  a  rightful  juris- 
prudence, if  on  that  account  singly  they  are  made  to  be 
legally  binding  also.  It  is  only  with  a  part  of  virtue  that 
human  law  has  to  do.  There  is  a  remainder  on  which  it 
cannot  intrude  without  serious  injury  both  to  the  cause  of 
morals  and  to  the  best  interests  of  society. 

19.  But  not  so  with  divine  law,  which  takes  cognizance 
of  all  virtue,  and  claims  ascendency  over  the  whole  man. 
Man,  though  he  has  right  to  the  justice,  has  no  right  to  th? 
benevolence  of  his  fellow.  But  God  has.  He  has  full  right 
to  all  our  services,  and  in  reference  to  Him  the  distinction 
ceases  ;  and  the  obligation  not  of  one  class  of  duties,  but  of 


PRELIiMINARY  ETHICS.  37 

all  duty,  is  perfect  and  entire.  And  so  He  is  alike  peremp- 
tory in  requiring  benevolence,  as  in  requiring  truth  or  justice 
at  our  hands  ;  and  with  perfect  reason  too — for  to  every 
duty  which  can  be  named  on  the  part  of  man,  there  is  a 
corresponding  right  on  the  part  of  God.  Man  has  no 
right  upon  us  for  any  part  of  that  which  is  our  own. 
But  in  reference  to  God,  we  are  not  our  own ;  and  that 
distinction  which  in  the  morals  and  jurisprudence  of  earth 
is  of  so  much  importance,  and  should  never  be  lost  sight  of, 
is  not  so  recognized,  and  not  so  proceeded  on  in  the  juris- 
prudence of  heaven.  Even  under  the  system  of  natural 
theology,  God  has  a  full  and  perfect  right  upon  us  for  those 
duties  which  are  said  to  be  of  imperfect  obligation  ;  and  this 
more  special  right  of  His  to  our  performance  of  the  so-called 
imperfect  duties,  has  a  still  more  special  and  distinctive 
character  of  strength  and  prominency  given  to  it  in  the 
Christian  theology.  Because  Christ  died  for  us  we  should 
live  to  Him :  or,  in  other  words,  all  our  powers  and  affec- 
tions and  virtues  of  any  sort  should  be  consecrated  to  His 
service.  Because  he  laid  down  His  life  for  us,  we  should 
lay  down  our  lives  for  the  brethren — a  duty  this  to  which, 
in  the  reckoning  of  an  earthly  morals,  or  under  an  economy 
of  earthly  law,  there  would  be  the  most  imperfect  of  all 
obligations.  Because  God  so  loved  us,  we  ought  also  to 
love  one  another.  Because  God  for  Christ's  sake  hath  for- 
given us,  we  should  forbear  and  forgive  one  another :  and 
so  absolute  is -the  obligation  of  this  latter  duty,  though  per- 
haps in  the  system  of  natural  ethics  the  most  obviously  im- 
perfect of  any — that  on  our  failure  in  the  performance  of  it, 
we  forfeit  the  blessings  of  our  redemption.  (Matt.  vi.  15.) 
Nay,  in  the  description  of  the  final  judgment,  we  find  that 
upon  benevolence  are  made  to  turn  the  rewards  of  an  eter- 
nity ;  and  that  which  on  the  mere  platform  of  human  society 
would  be  the  mere  rendering  of  a  gratuity  to  a  neighbor 
rises  from  the  imperfect  to  the  perfect,  when  viewed  in  the 
light  of  a  return  for  the  kindness,  or  as  if  it  were  in  pay- 
ment of  a  debt  to  the  Saviour.* 

**  The  distinction  between  the  duties  of  perfect  and  imperfect  obligation 


38  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

20.  Nay,  so  great  is  the  pre-eminence  given  in  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  this  benevolence,  this  virtue  of  imperfect 
obligation,  that  it  is  made  to  overshadow  the  others  in  a  vray 
v^hich  almost  seems  to  supersede  them,  or  to  dispense  with 
the  necessity  of  making  these  the  objects  of  our  recognition 
at  all.  And  accordingly  we  read  of  love  being  the  fulfill- 
ment of  all  the  law,  and  of  all  the  other  virtues,  including 
both  truth  and  justice,  not  that  they  are  abrogated,  but  that 
they  are  briefly  comprehended  in  this  saying — Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  It  is  thus  that  the  law  of  the 
gospel  has  been  called  the  law  of  liberty — of  which  no  bet- 
ter definition  can  be  given  than  freedom  to  do  as  we  like — 
so  that  if  we  like  our  neighbor,  we  shall  be  sure,  and  that 
not  of  constraint,  but  of  our  own  spontaneous  choice  to 
work  him  no  ill — a  practical  security,  and  that  of  the  best 
sort,  against  any  infraction  of  any  of  the  virtues  of  perfect 
obligation.  And  thus  it  maybe  thought  of  these  virtues  that 
they  may  forthwith  disappear  from  the  system  of  Christian 
ethics  altogether — that  charity  absorbs  all,  because,  itself  a 
universal  substitute,  it  comes  in  place  of  all ;  and  thus  that 
the  speculation  of  all  the  moralities  being  reducible  to  be- 
nevolence, which  we  have  so  recently  ventured  to  denounce, 
will  come  to  be  realized  and  exem.plified  in  that  state  of  per- 
fection which  is  contemplated  by  the  apostle  when  he  tells 
of  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 

21.  Does  it  follow,  then,  that  after  charity  or  love  has  had 
ts  perfect  work  in  the  heart,  it  so  monopolizes  the  whole 
field  of  vision  that  a  Christian,  when  thus  far  advanced, 
loses  sight  of  truth  and  justice — so  as  that  henceforth  they 
disappear  from  observation,  and  resign  that  distinctive  indi- 
viduality for  which  we  have  been  contending,  to  the  benev- 
olence which,  in  accordance  with  the  tenet  of  those  ethical 
philosophers  against  whom  we  have  hitherto  been  listed,  is 
now  all  in  all?  Our  reply,  on  the  contrary,  is — that  the 
moral  virtues  of  truth  and  justice,  and  that  too  in  their  dis- 
tinctive peculiarity,  continue  the  perpetual  objects  of  recog- 

18  the  real  ground  and  subsistence  of  the  morahties  which  men  owe  to  each 
other,  but  not  of  those  which  man  owes  to  God. — 1  Cor.  x.  31. 


PRELIMINARY  ETHICS.  39 

nition  and  reverence  to  the  Christian  disciple  throughout  all 
the  stages  of  his  spiritual  advancement,  and  in  this  w^ay,  it 
is  quite  true,  that  in  virtue  of  the  benevolence  wherewith  his 
heart  is  now  charged,  he  will  not  be  inclined  to  the  violation 
of  them,  any  more  than  the  spirit  of  a  just  man  made  per- 
fect, and  so  filled  with  all  moral  excellence,  is  inclined  to  sin. 
But  with  the  real  perfection  of  a  saint  in  heaven,  or  with  an 
aspiring  progress  and  tendency  towards  it  on  earth,  there 
will  be  something  more  than  disinclination  to  sin.  There 
will  be  an  abhorrence  of  sin — ^not  a  mere  negative  indifFer- 
ency,  but  a  strong  positive  energetic  recoil  from  the  very 
conception  of  sin.  It  is  this,  in  fact,  which  constitutes  holi- 
ness— of  which  it  were  a  wrong  definition  to  say  that  it  con- 
sisted in  perfect  virtue.  This  is  not  what  holiness  properly 
and  precisely  is.  To  have  a  right  understanding  of  what 
that  is,  and  nothing  else,  which  we  call  holiness — we  must 
look,  not  to  virtue  in  itself,  but  to  virtue  in  relation  to  its  op- 
posite ;  and  the  specific  or  essential  characteristic  of  holi- 
ness lies  in  the  repugnance,  a  repugnance  which  with  the 
Godhead  is  infinite  and  invincible,  that  is  felt  to  sin.  Now, 
applying  this  to  the  present  question,  the  mere  fact  of  one 
or  any  number  of  Christians  having  had  the  law  of  love  put 
into  their  hearts,  cannot  possibly  affect  the  abstract  system 
of  ethics,  which  will  remain  in  all  its  parts,  and  in  all  its 
diversities  between  one  part  and  another,  the  same  doctrine 
or  body  of  propositions  after  this  event  as  before  it.  More 
particularly,  there  would  remain  as  wide  a  distinction  be- 
tween justice  and  benevolence  as  ever,  and  no  change  what- 
ever in  concrete  persons  could,  in  any  conceivable  way, lead 
to  such  a  change  of  abstract  principles  as  would  merge  these 
two  into  one  and  the  same  object  of  contemplation.  Take 
two  persons  of  great  and  nearly  equal  generosity,  so  near 
as  that  when  tested  it  was  found  of  the  one  that  for  the  re- 
lief of  the  same  case  of  distress  he  gave  half  a  farthing  more 
than  the  other.  Take  other  two  persons,  each  acquitting 
himself  of  the  same  contract ;  and  let  it  be  found  that  while 
the  first  rigidly  kept  by  the  terms  of  his  bargain,  the  second 
in  the  settlement  of  his,  knowingly,  deliberately,  and  by  a 


"40  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

dishonest  artifice,  contrived  to  secrete  and  appropriate  for 
himself  half  a  farthing  which  did  not  belong  to  him.  Who 
would  ever  think  of  estimating  these  two  differences  on  the 
same  principles  or  in  the  same  manner  ?  How  comes  it 
that  while  the  material  differences  are  precisely  the  same, 
the  moral  differences  are  so  wholly  unlike,  and  that  not  in 
degree  but  in  species  ?  Why,  it  is  because  the  virtues  con- 
cerned in  the  two  transactions  are  of  different  species.  The 
defect  of  the  one  man's  generosity  from  the  other's  is  of  no 
sensible  estimation.  The  contrast  between  the  one  man's 
dishonesty  and  the  other's  faithfulness,  is  as  distinctly  mark- 
ed and  as  broadly  discernible  as  is  the  contrast  between 
light  and  darkness.  In  the  first  case,  we  are  presented  with 
gradations  of  the  same  color.  In  the  second,  we  are  pre- 
sented with  the  different  hues  of  two  opposite  colors.  It  is 
all  true  that  the  same  Christian  love  which  prompted  the 
generosity  would  also  refrain  from  the  injustice ;  but  if  a 
Christian  in  all  his  parts,  he  would  do  more  than  simply  re- 
frain from  the  injustice — he  would  recoil  from  it,  and  that 
with  the  clear  and  full  and  instant  determination  of  one  who 
had  been  well  taught  in  the  lesson,  that  "  he  who  was  un- 
faithful in  the  least  was  unfaithful  also  in  much."  Such  mo- 
rality, the  morality  though  it  may  seem  of  grains  and  scru- 
ples, is  the  highest  toned  morality  of  all — not  that  which 
takes  alarm  only  at  the  grosser  and  more  glaring  enormities 
of  human  conduct,  but  that  which  would  shrink  from  the 
minutest  violations  whether  of  truth  or  of  justice.  If  to 
recoil  from  the  first  approaches  of  impurity  or  profaneness 
be  the  holiness  of  the  sacred — then  to  recoil  from  the  first 
approaches  of  falsehood  or  dishonesty,  however  venial  they 
might  appear  to  this  every-day  world,  may  well  be  termed 
the  holiness  of  the  social  virtues — a  holiness  for  which  there 
is  place  and  exercise  even  under  the  full  reign  of  that  char- 
ity which  never  faileth ;  and  accordingly  heaven  is  at  once 
the  abode  both  of  love  and  of  holiness.  And  thus  it  is  that 
the  Christian  servant  told  not  to  purloin,  would  spurn  away 
every  temptation  to  taste  or  to  touch  a  forbidden  thing ; 
and  the  Christian  overseer  would  resolutely  keep  himself 


PRELIMINARY  ETHICS.  41 

from  every  unhallowed  freedom  with  the  property  of  his 
employer ;  and  the  Christian  merchant  would  disdain  the 
paltry  deception  or  concealment  which  might  magnify  his 
gains.  There  is  nothing  in  the  power  or  prevalence  of 
Christian  love  to  obliterate  the  virtues,  or  to  banish  from  the 
society  of  earth  the  sacred  and  venerable  forms,  either  of 
unswerving  fidelity,  or  of  high  and  untainted  honor.  And 
the  same  truth  and  justice  which  flourish  here  are  trans- 
planted to  the  land  of  uprightness  beyond  the  grave,  and 
are  there  the  themes  of  immortal  celebration — "  Just  and 
true  are  thy  ways,  thou  King  of  saints,  thou  only  art  holy."  * 
22.  We  have  already  intimated  that  there  is  a  certain 
laxity  of  doctrine  associated  with  the  ethical  speculation 
of  those  who  would  put  truth  and  justice  on  the  background, 
by  making  them  a  sort  of  secondaries  or  subordinates  to  the 
great  master- virtue  of  benevolence.  And  we  may  further 
say  of  many  in  society,  that,  though  not  entertained  as  a 
theory,  yet  felt  as  a  sentiment,  it  is  in  them  associated  with 
a  certain  laxity  of  practice.  Free  and  fearless  in  expenditure, 
and  with  an  openhandedness  which  passes  for  generosity, 
they  can  be  profuse  in  hospitality,  nay,  even  munificent  in 
the  exercise  of  compassion,  when  a  tale  of  wretchedness  is 
brought  to  their  ears.  Yet,  just  because  there  is  more  of 
impulse  than  of  principle  in  all  their  well-doing,  are  they 
somewhat  loose  withal  to  the  virtues  of  perfect  obligation — 
not  very  punctual  to  their  engagements — not  very  faithful 
to  the  days  or  the  terms  of  stipulated  payment — not  over- 
scrupulous should  there  be  any  openings  of  escape  from  the 
tribute  which  is  due  by  them — not  very  observant  of  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  when  hig- 
gling in  markets,  they  would  either  unconscionably  cheapen 
down  the  article  they  want  to  buy,  or  try  to  palm  oflf  on 
others  the  commodity  in  which  they  deal — in  a  word,  with 
many  of  the  frank  and  companionable  virtues  of  good  neigh- 
borhood, not  very  strict  or  literal  in  the  discharge  of  those 
cardinal  duties  over  against  which  there  stand  the  counter- 

*  Perfect  holiuess  is  perfect  virtue,  but  in  a  peculiar  aspect,  that  of  sep- 
aration and  recoil  from  its  opposite.— 1  Pet.  i.  15,  16.  "~ 


42  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

part  rights  of  creditors  or  customers  or  employers.  Theirs 
is  what  may  be  called  the  liberalism  of  virtue ;  and  it  is  x 
among  them  that  splendid  bankruptcies  and  splendid  phoenix-  ^ 
like  revivals,  and  to  account  for  these,  we  fear,  splendid 
frauds,  are  often  to  be  found.  But  this  relaxation  is  not 
confined  to  such.  It  is  met  in  every  class  of  society ;  nor 
are  we  aware  of  a  fitter  theme  in  all  Christian  ethics  for 
the  pulpit,  and  that  to  serve  the  purposes  both  of  conviction 
and  of  direct  moral  tuition,  than  to  denounce  and  to  expose 
it.  The  minister  when  thus  employed  is  standing  up  for 
what  we  have  just  styled  the  holiness  of  social  virtue,  when 
he  tells  the  servants  in  a  family  not  to  purloin,  and  laborers 
in  the  field  not  to  serve  with  eye-service,  and  men  in  the 
walks  of  merchandise  not,  in  their  love  of  money,  which  is 
the  root  of  all  evil,  to  forget  the  simplicity  and  godly  sin- 
cerity of  Christian  disciples,  even  though  their  fellows  should 
laugh  at  them  as  simpletons.  And,  in  short,  when  he  charges 
all  and  sundry  of  his  hearers  against  those  secret  and  un- 
seen but  innumerable  peccadilloes  which  are  so  currently 
practiced  in  the  various  departments  of  service,  or  house- 
keeping, or  trade,  or  confidential  agency,  of  far  too  various 
a  character  in  the  complicated  relations  of  business  and 
society  for  our  enumeration.* 

23.  But  a  just  sense  of  this  ethical  distinction  may  serve 
not  only  to  enlighten  and  confirm  our  views  of  Christian 
practice — it  should  also  rectify  our  apprehensions  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine.  I  should  like  you  to  ponder  well  the  diflfer- 
ence  between  a  legal  right  and  a  moral  rightness,  or  which 
is  the  same  thing,  between  a  right  in  the  substantive  and 
rightness  in  the  adjective  sense  of  the  term.  The  character 
of  moral  rightness  is  predicable  of  all  virtue,  but  it  is  only 
a  part  of  virtue  to  my  performance  of  which  any  of  my  fel- 
lows in  society  can  have  a  legal  or  judicial  right.  It  is 
right  for  me  to  be  benevolent,  but  no  man  can  allege  a  right 
"to  my  benevolence  as  he  can  a  right  to  my  justice.  It  is 
right  for  me  to  forgive,  but  no  man  can  allege  a  right  to  the 

*  The  magnitude  of  fidelity  in  littles  when  brought  to  a  moral  standard.— 
Gen.  xiv.  23 ;  Luke  xvi.  10. 


PRELIMINARY  ETHICS.  43 

forgiveness  of  an  injury,  as  he  can  to  the  payment  of  a  debt. 
In  short,  it  is  right  that  I  should  acquit  myself  of  all  the 
virtues,  even  those  of  imperfect  obligation ;  but  none  on 
earth  have  a  right  upon  me  for  any  other  virtues  than  those 
of  perfect  obligation,  l^ow  it  is  the  equivoque  of  tv^^o  terms 
so  near  in  language,  yet  appHed  to  things  so  different  in 
reality,  w^hich  has  led  to  a  certain  sense  of  ambiguity  in  our 
understanding  of  certain  passages,  and  so  in  our  attempts 
to  estimate  aright  certain  doctrines  of  the  'New  Testament; 
and  it  is  only  by  attending  to  the  distinction  betv^^een  a 
judicial  right  and  a  moral  rightness  that  the  ambiguity  is 
resolved.  The  righteousness  of  which  v^^e  read  there,  as 
well  as  its  counterpart  6iicaioavv7]'"m  the  Greek,  is  expressive 
sometimes  of  that  righteousness  which  has  acquired  or  made 
good  a  right  to  reward,  and  sometimes  of  that  righteousness 
which,  apart  from  the  judicial  element  altogether,  stamps  a 
moral  or  personal  worth  upon  the  character.  Now,  in  the 
former  sense,  the  righteousness  of  man  is  uttei'ly  held  at 
naught  under  the  Chi'istian  dispensation ;  and  by  its  econ- 
nomy  the  most  ruinous  error  into  which  man  can  fall  is 
attempting  to  establish  such  a  righteousness  of  his  own — 
the  very  stumblingblock  at  which  the  Jews  stumbled ;  and 
a  stumblingblock  to  the  men  of  all  generations  who  think, 
by  their  own  obedience,  to  substantiate  a  legal  claim  to  the 
divine  favor,  or  to  the  preferments  of  a  blissful  eternity. 
But  in  the  latter  sense  the  righteousness  of  man  is  not  only 
in  highest  demand ;  but  his  restoration  to  entire  personal 
virtue  is  announced  to  be  the  ultimate  design  of  the  Christian 
dispensation — the  terminating  object  of  which  is  that  the 
man  of  God  may  be  perfect  and  thoroughly  furnished  unto 
all  good  works.  It  is  in  virtue  of  the  distinction  now  ex- 
plained, that  we  are  enabled  to  resolve  the  seeming  incon- 
sistency of  these  seemingly  opposite  representations.  The 
righteousness  of  man  is  of  no  possible  avail  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  his  judicial  right  to  a  place  in  heaven  ;  and  for 
this  we  must  look  exclusively  and  altogether  to  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ.  But  the  righteousness  of  man  is  indis- 
pensable to  his  personal  meetness  for  heaven ;  and  this  can 


44  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

only  be  made  good  by  his  working  mightily  in  the  strength 
of  that  Spirit  for  whom  he  prays,  and  who  works  in  him 
mightily.  In  other  words,  the  righteousness  of  man  con- 
tributes nothing  to  his  justification.  It  is  all  in  all  for  his 
sanctification ;  and  it  is  thus  that  passages  and  doctrines 
which  some  regard  as  destructive  of  each  other  admit  of 
being  fully  harmonized.* 

*  Righteousness  is  judicially  understood  when  associated  with  the  doctrine 
of  justification,  and  morally  understood  when  associated  with  sanctification. 
—Rom.  X.  3,  4 ;  Matt.  v.  20. 


CHAPTER  11. 

PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS  AND  MENTAL  PHYSICS. 

1.  Metaphysics  have  been  variously  defined — as  first, 
the  science  of  the  principles  and  causes  of  all  things  exist- 
ing. We  conceive  Lord  Monboddo's  description  of  this 
science,  and  v^^hich  might  be  accepted  for  a  definition  of  it, 
is  still  more  comprehensive — that  its  province  is  to  consider 
that  ra  ovra  t]  ovra  existences  only  as  existences.  It  looks 
to  all  the  things  which  be,  but  not  in  their  special  properties 
by  which  each  is  distinguished  from  all  others ;  for  on  de- 
scending to  these,  we  touch  on  some  of  the  secondary  or 
subordinate  sciences.  It  looks  to  them  in  their  common 
property  of  existence,  and  considers  what  is  involved  in  the 
one  universal  attribute  "  to  be."  Our  reason  for  saying  of, 
this  view  that  it  is  more  comprehensive  than  the  first  one, 
is,  that  it  includes  properties  and  relations  as  well  as  prin- 
ciples and  causes.  For  example,  we  might  affirm,  or  at 
least  discuss  the  question,  whether  all  existent  things,  in 
virtue  of  existence  alone,  have  not  a  relation  to,  or  do  not 
exist  both  in  space  and  time,  neither  of  which,  let  them  be 
viewed  either  as  substantive  elements  in  themselves,  or  as 
mere  elements  of  thought,  can  be  regarded  as  the  principle 
or  cause  of  anything  existing.  Still  metaphysics,  so  far  as 
yet  described,  may  be  reckoned  as  but  the  science  of  entity; 
and  as  such  it  were  exclusive  of  certain  topics  which  never 
can  be  discussed  without  being  viewed  as  metaphysical. 
For  example,  neither  mathematics  nor  ethics,  when  treated 
abstractly,  have  to  do  with  things  concrete — the  one  being 
the  science  of  quantity,  and  the  other,  alike  without  the 
limits  of  ontology,  whose  category  is  the  quid  est,  being  the 
science  of  deontology,  whose  altogether  distinct  category 
is  the  quid  oportet.  The  mathematical  relations  of  the  first 
science,  and  the  moral  relations  of  the  second,  have  an  in- 


46  IxNSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

dependent  truth  in  themselves,  although  there  were  no 
existent  being  in  the  universe  to  substantiate  or  exemplify 
either  of  them.  The  propositions  of  mathematical  science 
depend  not  for  their  truth  on  the  existence  of  matter;  and 
the  propositions  of  moral  science  depend  not  for  their  truth 
on  the  existence  of  mind — though  ere,  perhaps,  we  could 
conceive  of  them,  both  matter  and  mind  must  be  thought 
of  or  have  a  hypothetical  existence  given  to  them.  And 
yet  we  could  not  affirm  thus  of  these  two  sciences  without 
being  charged  with  speaking  metaphysically.  They  also, 
therefore,  must  have  to  do  with  metaphysics ;  and,  indeed, 
it  is  currently  held  of  every  science  that  it  has  a  metaphysics, 
whether  it  lie  within  or  beyond  the  province  of  ontology. 
We  should  therefore  regard  it  as  a  better  adjustment,  a 
more  convenient  distribution  of  the  objects  of  human  thought, 
if  we  should  adopt,  as  the  strict  definition  of  metaphysics, 
what  it  is  often  called — not  the  first  philosophy,  for  besides 
not  being  in  all  respects  true,  this  would  not  serve  the  pur- 
poses of  a  definition  so  well  as  another  ascription  which  has 
been  given  to  it — the  science  of  sciences.  We  confess  our 
preference  for  such  a  definition  to  any  of  the  former  ones. 
Each  science  sits  as  arbiter  on  its  own  proper  objects — its 
office  being  to  ascertain  and  to  record  the  specific  charac- 
ters of  every  distinct  individual,  as  well  as  the  similarities 
and  differences  which  obtain  amongst  them.  Now  the 
proper  objects  of  the  metaphysical  science  are  distinct  from 
the  objects  of  any  or  of  all  the  others ;  for,  in  truth,  the 
proper  objects  of  metaphysics  are  the  sciences  themselves. 
It,  as  being  the  scientia  scientiarum,  sits  as  arbiter  over  all 
the  sciences ;  and  its  office  is  to  assign  the  peculiarities  by 
which  each  differs  from  the  rest,  and  the  generalities  in 
which  two  or  more  of  them  agree — rising  to  higher  and 
higher  generalizations  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  sciences 
which  are  under  survey  and  comparison  at  the  time.  Should 
we  ever  be  able  to  arrive  at  the  one  generalization  which 
belongs  to  them  all,  we  shall  then  have  reached  the  loftiest 
possible  abstraction,  the  point  or  summit  of  highest  trans- 
cendentalism. 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS.  47 

2.  According  to  this  view  of  metaphysics,  it  stands  re- 
lated to  all  the  sciences  in  the  way  that  each  particular 
science  is  related  to  all  the  individual  objects  wherev/ith  it 
is  conversant.  To  divest  the  mind  of  all  philosophy  even 
to  its  first  beginnings,  or  in  its  earliest  rudiments,  one  would 
need  to  be  so  constructed  as  to  be  capable  of  knowing  ail 
the  things  within  his  sphere  of  observation  only  as  individ- 
als  ;  and  we  are  not  sure  if  idiots  or  the  inferior  animals 
can  attain  to  more.  Should  ten  objects  have  the  same 
property,  or  ten  events  fall  out  by  the  same  process,  then, 
from  the  moment  that  one  takes  cognizance  of  this  sameness, 
he  enters  on  the  work  of  philosophy,  the  proper  business  of 
which  is  to  form  individuals  into  classes,  by  grouping  them 
according  to  their  resemblances.  The  man  who  can  tell 
me  of  ten  different  things,  whether  he  be  a  peasant  or  an 
academician,  that  they  are  all  of  a  white  color,  or  all  pos- 
sess the  common  property  of  whiteness,  is  pro  tanto  a  phi- 
losopher. And  thus  it  is,  that  throughout  the  popular  mind, 
and  in  the  business  of  human  society,  there  is  in  current 
and  familiar  exercise  an  essential  philosophy,  though  it  be 
not  so  named.  The  only  difference  between  the  philosophy 
of  common  sense  and  the  philosophy  w^hich  men  have 
agreed  to  call  such,  is,  that  the  latter  has  to  do  with  larger 
generalizations,  and  more  especially,  if  to  extend  the  gen- 
eralization, much  labor  has  to  be  bestowed.  All  men  are 
aware  of  a  very  general  resemblance  amongst  falling  bodies 
at  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  and  in  having  thus  generalized, 
they  acted  the  real  part  of  philosophers,  although  they  are 
not  styled  such ;  but  when  Sir  Isaac  Newton  extended  this 
generalization,  and  made  palpable  the  likeness  between  a 
body  falling  towards  the  center  of  the  earth,  and  the  moon 
deflecting  towards  it  in  its  orbit,  this  was  honored  as  a  high 
achievement  in  philosophy;  and  he  became  the  very  prince 
of  philosophers  on  the  discovery  of  a  still  wider  generaliza- 
tion, even  that  all  matter  gravitates  towards  all  matter. 
This  law  of  gravitation  is  a  very  general  fact,  far  more 
general  than  that  all  bodies  at  the  earth's  surface  are  pos- 
sessed of  weight,  so  that  if  left  without  support,  they  will 


4S  I!<STITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

fall  towards  the  earth's  center.  But  each  law  of  nature  has 
been  well  defined  the  summary  expression  of  a  general  fact; 
and  the  proper  function  of  philosophy  is  to  view  all  objects 
and  all  events  according  to  their  resemblances,  so  as  to 
ascertain  and  to  registrate  these  laws.  But  the  work  of 
philosophy,  like  every  other,  is  expedited  by  subdivision ; 
and  so  it  is  separated  into  sciences;  each  having  to  do  with 
those  narrower  generalities  that  lie  within  the  limits  of  its 
own  proper  domain,  and  by  which  all  the  individual  objects 
of  that  department  are  grouped  or  classified,  in  so  far  as 
they  have  any  of  those  properties  in  common  which  it  is 
the  office  of  that  science  to  investigate.  The  proper  dis- 
tinction then,  I  apprehend,  between  metaphysics  and  the 
other  sciences,  is,  that  it  has  to  do  with  higher  and  wider 
generalizations  than  any  of  them.  It  views  the  sciences  as 
individuals,  and  takes  note  both  of  the  differences  and  the 
likenesses  between  them.  In  so  doing  it  will  group,  not  the 
objects  of  one  science  only,  but  the  objects  of  sevei-al,  and 
at  length  of  all  the  sciences,  by  a  wider  generality,  by  a 
higher  generic  quality,  comprehensive  of  a  far  larger  num- 
ber of  individual  objects  than  come  within  the  view  of  the 
mere  cultivators  of  any  of  the  separate  sciences.  The 
work,  then,  of  the  metaphysician  is  essentially  of  the  same 
kind  with  that  of  the  ordinary  philosopher ;  and  the  only 
difference  is,  that  he  has  to  do  with  larger  and  higher  gen- 
eralizations. We  have  already  seen  how  common  sense 
graduates  into  philosophy ;  and  we  may  now  see  how  phi- 
losophy graduates  into  metaphysics. 

3.  Let  us  illustrate  our  meaning  by  one  or  two  examples 
taken  from  the  physical  sciences.  I  will  first  advert  to  the 
distinction  laid  down  by  Professor  Robison  of  Edinburgh, 
between  the  two  sciences  of  natural  philosophy  and  chem- 
istry— the  subject  of  both  being  inorganic  matter,  but  of  the 
one  the  changes  induced  in  it  by  motions  which  are  sensible 
and  measurable  ;  and  of  the  other,  the  changes  induced  by 
motions  not  sensible  and  not  measurable.  According  to 
our  conception  of  metaphysics,  the  Professor  was  acting 
the  part  of  a  metaphysician  when  thus  arbitrating  between 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS,  43 

these  sciences,  and  assigning  the  property  common  to  both, 
as  well  as  the  peculiarity  which  belonged  to  each  of  them. 
But  in  making  this  statement  to  one  of  the  ablest  and  pro- 
foundest  of  my  literary  friends,  it  was  his  obvious  feeling 
that  metaphysics  had  its  place  in  a  region  of  loftier  and 
larger  generalities  than  any  involved  in  the  classification  as 
now  given  of  these  two  sciences.  I  then  instanced  another 
of  Dr.  Robison's  fine  generalizations,  by  which  he  assumed 
a  more  comprehensive  meaning  for  natural  philosophy  than 
was  just  now  assigned  to  it.  He  partitioned  the  whole  phi- 
losophy of  matter  into  two  sciences — the  first  being  what 
he  termed  the  science  of  contemporaneous  nature,  and  the 
second  of  successive  nature — the  one  being  conversant  with 
the  objects  of  the  material  universe,  the  other  wilh  the 
events  of  the  material  universe — the  one  having  to  do  with 
properties  all  existing  together,  and  of  which  cognizance 
could  be  taken  in  one  instant  by  a  being  of  perfect  intuition, 
and  who  had  the  whole  system  of  things  spread  out  in  space 
before  him  ;  the  other  having  to  do  with  processes  for  the 
development  of  which  the  element  of  time  had  to  be  intro- 
duced, that  so  those  changes  might  be  evolved  which  fell 
within  the  contemplation  of  the  second  of  these  two  sciences. 
Now  the  first,  or  the  science  of  contemporaneous  nature,  he 
called  natural  history ;  the  second,  or  science  of  successive 
nature,  he  called  natural  philosophy.  On  asking  my  friend 
whether  in  this  new  adjustment  of  the  scheme  of  human 
knowledge,  metaphysics  were  at  all  concerned,  he  seemed 
willing  to  admit  their  share  in  the  fabrication  of  it,  though 
I  cannot  see  why  they  should  have  been  refused  a  part  in 
the  former  classification,  and  allowed  it  in  the  latter,  but 
for  the  greater  and  lesser  degrees  of  generality  in  the  cir- 
cumstances both  of  similarity  and  distinction,  on  which  the 
two  classifications  turned — matter,  space,  time,  being  terms 
of  far  wider  generality  than  motion,  sensible  and  measur- 
able, or  motion  not  so.  We  retain,  therefore,  our  preference 
for  that  view  of  metaphysics,  as  having  the  office  of  sitting 
in  judgment  on  the  sciences,  and  pronouncing  on  the  rela- 
tions which  subsist  between  them;  and  if  when  performing 

VOL.  VII.— C 


50  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY, 

this  office  on  the  lower  subdivisions  of  human  knowledge, 
there  seems  to  be  a  descent  among  ideas  too  Hmited  and 
palpable  for  that  science  which  has  been  ennobled  by  the 
title  of  the  first  philosophy,  this  will  be  amply  compensated 
■when  rising  to  higher  divisions,  and  so  to  larger  generalities, 
we  shall  find  in  the  midst  of  such  categories  as  space,  and 
time,  and  causation,  and  power,  and  all  the  other  terms 
whereof  the  nomenclature  of  abstract  speculation  is  com- 
posed, that  we  have  not  missed,  but  at  length  got  our  way, 
to  a  region  as  transcendental  and  full  of  undoubted  meta- 
physics as  any  schoolman  could  desire. 

4.  Our  definition,  then,  of  metaphysics  is,  that  as  scientia 
scientiarum,  her  proper  office  is  to  assign  the  relations, 
w^hether  of  resemblance  or  distinction,  w^hich  subsist  between 
the  various  branches  of  human  knowledge. 

5.  Theology  draws  on  many  of  the  sciences — nay,  so 
many  of  them  enter  more  or  less  into  the  composition  of  her 
entire  system,  that  for  the  full  accomplishment  of  a  theologi- 
cal student,  his  pursuits  must  be  exceedingly  various,  and 
to  discriminate  these,  there  must  be  a  call  for  metaphysics 
in  the  sense  now  given.  You  will  not  be  surprised  there- 
fore, if  in  assigning,  for  example,  the  respective  functions 
of  scripture  criticism  and  systematic  theology,  we  shall  so 
explain  the  difference  between  these  and  the  bearing  of  the 
one  upon  the  other,  that  in  the  terms  of  our  definition  it  may 
be  said  that  we  are  attempting  to  give  forth  the  metaphysics 
of  scripture  criticism  and  the  metaphysics  of  systematic 
theology.  This  is  not  the  time,  however,  for  dwelling  upon 
these  subjects,  nor  shall  we  offer  now  to  present  you  with 
more  than  one  theme  under  the  head  of  preliminary  meta- 
physics— we  mean  the  distinction  between  the  ontology  and 
deontology  of  our  science — a  theme  which  we  have  already 
expounded  and  expatiated  on  under  the  more  familiar  title 
of  the  distinction  between  the  objects  of  theology  and  the 
ethics  of  theology.* 

6.  I  trust  that  a  few  sentences  will  suffice  to  make  palpa- 
ble what  the  distinction  is.     The  difference  between  an 

^  See  Natural  Theology,  vol.  i.  chap,  i. 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS.  51 

ethical,  and  what  may  be  termed  an  objective  proposition 
in  theology,  must  be  quite  obvious.  The  greatest  object  in 
theology  is  God ;  and  the  proposition  that  God  is,  is  an  ob- 
jective one — while  the  proposition  that  we,  the  creatures  of 
His  hand,  owe  to  Him,  our  Creator,  all  love  and  service,  is 
an  ethical  proposition.  In  like  manner,  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God,  is  an  object ;  and  that  He  exists,  is  one  of  the 
greatest  of  those  objective  truths  which  are  presented  to  us 
in  the  theology  of  Scripture ;  while  that  from  us.  His  re- 
deemed, are  due  to  Him,  our  Redeemer,  the  grateful  homage 
of  our  whole  hearts,  the  dedication  of  all  we  have  and  all 
we  are  to  His  will,  stands  forth  in  the  ethical  system  of  the 
New  Testament  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  all  moral  obliga- 
tions. The  distinction  is  in  every  way  as  real  as  that  which 
obtains  in  natural  philosophy  between  the  mathematics  of 
the  science  and  the  objects  of  the  science.  All  that  is 
mathematical  in  this  science  would  be  true,  although  the 
universe  were  desolated  of  its  matter,  and  no  bodies  existed 
between  which  lines  could  be  drawn,  either  to  compose 
actual  solids  or  to  present  actual  surfaces  for  the  contem- 
plation of  the  geometer.  With  but  the  conceivable  lines  and 
surfaces  and  solids  of  empty  space,  geometry  would  still 
remain  as  stable  a  science,  and  with  all  its  propositions  as 
entire  and  irrefragable  as  ever.  And  it  is  precisely  thus 
that  the  ethics  of  theology  are  separable,  and  might  be 
viewed  apart  from  the  objects  of  theology — the  moral  rela- 
tions, or  rather  the  moral  proprieties  grounded  on  those 
relations,  abiding  unchangeable,  whether  they  have  been 
suggested  by  the  thought  of  only  conceivable  beings,  or  by 
the  sight  and  knowledge  of, actual  beings,  to  give  them  a 
substantial  and  living  exemplification.  But  to  complete  our 
idea  of  this  distinction,  it  must  be  added  that  facts  or  events 
are  existences,  as  well  as  what  are  properly  termed  objects 
— the  fact  that  God  created  the  world,  as  well  as  God 
Himself  viewed  as  the  object  of  our  contemplation  ;  the 
event  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins,  as  well  as  Christ  Him- 
self viewed  in  like  manner  as  an  object  of  contemplation. 
When  we  speak  then  of  the  distinction  between  the  objects 


Sa  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  the  ethics  of  theology,  we  extend  the  meaning  of  the 
term  objects  beyond  its  usual  acceptation — making  it  com- 
prehensive of  historical  events,  as  v^^ell  as  of  substantive 
beings — v^^hatever,  in  short,  of  theology  that  comes  v^ithin 
the  category  of  quid  est,  in  contradistinction  to  which  we 
place  the  ethics  of  theology  as  comprehensive  of  all  that 
comes  within  the  category  of  quid  oportet.  With  these  ex^ 
planations,  there  should  be  no  difficulty  in  apprehending 
the  distinction  between  the  ontology  of  the  science  and  the 
deontology  of  the  science. 

7.  Now,  though  not  aware  that  this  distinction  has  ever 
been  adverted  to,  or  far  less,  made  use  of  by  former  theolo- 
gians, we  cannot  but  regard  it  as  one  of  prime  importance 
in  the  science  of  theology.  The  whole  peculiarity  of  the 
science,  in  fact,  may  be  said  to  lie  in  its  objects — for  its 
ethics  are  essentially  the  same  with  those  which  are  in  busy 
play  and  exercise  amid  the  familiar  relations  of  human 
society.  The  duty  which  we  owe  to  God  is  the  same  in 
kind,  though  immeasurably  greater  and  higher  in  degree, 
than  that  which  we  owe  to  an  earthly  benefactor.  But  the 
truth  that  God  is,  is  as  essentially  distinct  from  the  truth 
that  man  is,  as  any  information  respecting  the  existence  of 
one  being  is  distinct  from  the  information  that  there  exists 
another  and  a  wholly  different  being.  In  ascending  from 
the  visible  platform  of  things  before  and  around  us,  to  the 
contemplation  of  heavenly  and  divine  things,  we  do  not 
ascend  to  a  different  ethics,  but  we  ascend  to  a  different  set 
of  objects  from  before.  And  the  ethics  are  not  more 
distinct  from  the  objects  than  the  respective  faculties  of  our 
nature  are  by  which  we  take  cognizance  of  these — the  one 
being  the  faculty  of  observation,  by  which  we  come  at  the 
knowledge  of  existences  ;  and  the  other  the  moral  faculty, 
by  which  we  obtain  the  knowledge  of  duties.  But  for  the 
various  appUcations  which  might  be  made  of  this  distinction, 
we  must  refer  to  our  separate  treatise  on  Natural  Theology. 

8.  Each  science  has  its  own  individual  objects,  which  it 
classifies  according  to  certain  relations  and  resemblances. 
The  individual  objects  of  metaphysics  are  the  sciences — of 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS.  53 

which  therefore  it  may  be  said  that  the  office  is  to  classify 
on  a  large  scale  all  the  objects  of  human  knowledge;  because 
not  taking  cognizance  of  these,  till  the  sciences  had  previ- 
ously grouped  them  into  very  extensive  genera,  in  the 
contemplation  whereof  it  has  to  deal  with  wider  and  larger 
generalizations  than  any  of  them.  If  each  science  be  re- 
garded as  the  general  over  its  own  individuals — then  meta- 
physics, as  being  general  over  the  sciences,  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  generalissimo  over  all  knowledge.  After 
that  each  science  had  appropriated  and  is  now  cultivating 
its  own  section,  the  proper  office  of  metaphysics  is  to  form 
the  sections  into  provinces,  and  the  provinces  into  one  vast 
empire  or  territory  of  human  thought.  Now  it  could  scarce- 
ly be  thus  employed,  that  is^  in  assigning  the  objective  rela- 
tions between  the  different  branches  of  human  knowledge, 
without  adverting  to  the  different  mental  powers  that  are 
called  forth  in  the  prosecution  of  each  of  them.  In  other 
words,  it  naturally  behoved  to  have  been  thrown  back,  or 
in  a  reflex  direction,  from  such  a  consideration  of  the  objects 
of  knowledge  to  the  consideration  of  the  knowing  faculties. 
It  is  this,  we  believe,  which  in  the  progress  of  speculation 
has  caused  such  a  merging  of  the  metaphysical  into  the 
mental  philosophy.  And  so  this  metaphysics,  this  scientia 
scientiarum,  whose  proper  office  it  is  to  ordain  the  place 
and  the  boundaries  of  all,  has  come  down  from  her  high 
superintendence,  and  in  taking  account  of  the  powers  and 
processes  of  the  mind,  given  herself  with  almost  exclusive 
care  to  the  work  and  labor  of  but  one  of  the  sciences. 

9.  For  in  truth  the  science  of  mind  is  as  distinct  from 
metaphysics  as  are  any  other  of  the  sciences.  Mind  is  the 
subject  of  certain  phenomena,  even  as  matter  is.  These 
phenomena  are  cognizable  just  as  the  others  are,  by  obser- 
vation— only  by  a  different  instrument  of  observation,  by 
consciousness  instead  of  sense,  and  which  has  been  well 
called  the  faculty  of  internal  observation.  All  its  phe- 
nomena of  the  same  kind  are  reducible  to  laws,  and  by  the 
very  process  of  generalization  which  leads  to  the  discovery 
and  announcement  of  the  laws  of  the  material  universe.     In 


54  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

a  word,  mind,  as  belonging  to  the  category  of  the  quid  est, 
or  to  the  order  of  existences,  presents  us  with  both  the 
objects  and  the  events  which  are  included  in  this  category, 
with  an  object  of  contemplation  in  its  own  properties  and 
substantive  being,  and  with  a  succession  of  events,  in  the 
various  states  of  thinking  and  feeling  and  willing  through 
which  it  passes.  In  other  words,  mind,  like  every  other 
existent  thing,  has  a  nature  or  physiology  of  its  own,  the 
investigation  of  which  is  a  physical  investigation ;  and  so 
Dr.  Thomas  Brown  tells  us,  and  tells  us  rightly,  of  the 
physics  of  the  mind,  of  both  the  facts  and  the  laws  of  the 
mental  physiology — a  science  which  stands  as  separately 
out  from  metaphysics  as  do  any  of  the  physical  sciences  in 
the  department  of  the  material  world. 

10.  And  this  is  not  the  only  instance  in  which  the  mental 
has  been  blended  most  inappropriately,  and  therefore  most 
injuriously — for  what  can  injure  true  philosophy  more  than 
a  confounding  of  the  things  which  differ,  or  of  certain  of 
the  sciences  with  other  sciences  ?  Surely  to  tell  what  is 
right  and  what  is  wrong  is  one  thing ;  and  to  tell  what  are 
the  facts  or  phenomena,  and  from  these  what  are  the  laws 
of  mind,  is  another — yet  have  the  mental  and  the  moral 
been  amalgamated  into  one ;  and  so  the  ethical  professor 
must  lay  down  his  map  of  the  human  faculties  ere  he  will 
enter  on  the  proper,  or  rather  the  only  business  of  his  chair, 
which  is  the  philosophy  of  duty.  In  like  manner,  he  who 
tells  us  what  is  good  or  bad  in  argument,  is  employed  on  a 
different  subject  altogether  from  him  who  tells  us  of  the 
properties  or  processes  of  mind ;  and  yet  the  logical  pro- 
fessor will  often  think  it  incumbent  to  take  a  walking  survey 
over  the  whole  territory  of  mind,  ere  he  enters  on  the  work 
of  his  own  proper  calling,  which  is  the  act  of  ratiocination. 
These  colleagues,  when  they  thus  expatiate,  it  may  well  be 
said,  are  each  of  them  walking  abroad — for  certain  it  is 
that  each  has  ventured  forth  beyond  his  own  premises;  and 
sometimes  when  they  do  meet  in  this  outer  field,  which  they 
have  converted  into  a  sort  of  common,  it  is  not  always  on 
the  most  friendly  and  harmonious  terms — for  it  has  been 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS.  55 

known  that  with  adverse  mental  theories  they,  to  the  great 
edification  of  their  scholars,  have  actually  fallen  out  by  the 
way.  The  way  to  save  this  conflict — and  could  I  command 
but  an  infinitesimal  of  the  millions  expended  on  war  or  lux- 
ury, it  should  be  done— were  to  endow  a  complete  university, 
where  keeping  each  professor  within  the  limits  of  his  own 
peculiuni,  I  would  erect  a  separate  chair  for  the  mental 
physiology,  or  for  the  science  of  mind,  viewed  as  the  subject 
of  certain  processes  and  phenomena,  which  fall  within  the 
domain  of  observational  truth,  and  have  really  no  more  to 
do  with  the  question  of  what  is  sound  in  argument,  or  sound 
in  morals  either,  than  of  what  is  sound  or  demonstrative  in 
algebra.  And  what  is  more,  I  should  not  look  on  this  living 
encyclopaedia  of  chairs  and  professorships  as  fully  consum- 
mated, unless  besides  those  of  logic  and  ethics  and  the 
mental  physiology,  there  was  one  of  metaphysics  to  the 
bargain — the  proper  and  distinct  office  of  which  is  to  take 
cognizance  of  the  characteristic  peculiarities,  and  the  con- 
necting relations  both  of  these  and  of  all  other  sciences. 

11.  We  are  nearly  done  with  these  generalities — now 
that  you  must  understand  the  reason  why,  in  the  title  of 
this  Chapter,  we  have  added  to  preliminary  metaphysics, 
preliminary  mental  physics.  The  real  distinction  between 
these  we  take  for  granted  must  by  tlris  time  be  quite  pal- 
pable ;  and  let  us  now  therefore  point  out  certain  things  in 
the  working  and  procedure  of  the  human  faculties,  which 
are  of  fit  and  useful  cognizance  at  the  outset  of  your  theo- 
logical studies. 

12.  The  first  doctrine  in  the  mental  physiology  which  I 
would  select  for  consideration  is,  the  dependence  of  the  at- 
tention on  the  will.  We  do  not  need  to  perform  the  analysis 
by  which  this  has  been  conclusively  established,  and  for 
which  we  refer  more  especially  to  Dr.  Thomas  Brown.  It 
is  a  fact  which,  even  though  it  had  never  been  dealt  with 
scientifically,  we  should  have  been  entitled  to  proceed  upon 
in  the  treatment  of  our  own  questions.  It  is  manifest  to 
the  familiar  experience  of  every  one,  that  at  the  bidding  of 
our  own  will,  we  may  turn  our  attention  to  one  object  of 


56  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

thought,  and  withdraw  it  from  another.  Doubtless  there 
are  topics  which,  on  the  moment  of  their  being  presented, 
will  force  themselves  upon  our  attention  without  any  dis- 
tinct or  sensible  effort  upon  our  part.  It  is  not  the  less 
true,  however,  that  the  will  has  a  command  over  the  exer- 
cises of  this  faculty;  and  we  are  often  conscious  of  the 
volition  by  which,  as  if  by  a  word  of  command,  the  attention 
is  given  to  one  thing,  and  taken  off  from  another.  But  for 
this  there  could  be  no  just  anger  felt  at  the  misunderstand- 
ings or  misapprehensions  of  other  men.  Nothing  is  the 
legitimate  object  of  anger  which  is  not  willful.  We  often 
feel  anger  at  the  mistakes  of  our  fellows ;  but  it  is  not  a 
rightful  anger,  unless  the  mistake  could  have  been  avoided, 
had  the  party  chosen  to  attend  to  the  matter  in  question. 
The  mere  intellectual  error  or  perversity  of  another,  we 
ought  not  to  be  angry  at,  if  it  proceed  altogether  from  the 
constitution  of  his  intellect,  or  from  the  circumstances  by 
which  he  is  surrounded.  The  understanding  is  not  the 
proper  object  of  a  resentful  feeling  for  any  of  its  acts,  but 
the  will  is. 

13.  And  it  is  thus,  and  thus  alone,  that  opinion  comes 
within  the  scope  of  a  moral  reckoning ;  or  to  express  it 
otherwise,  that  man  is  responsible  for  his  belief  The  ethical 
principle  which  has  been  already  stated  by  us,  that  nothing 
is  virtuous  or  vicious  which  is  not  voluntary,  is  that  for  any 
act  to  be  susceptible  of  a  moral  designation,  it  must  have 
originated  or  had  its  consent  in  the  will — is  the  essential 
element  in  this  question.  After  this,  we  have  only  to  de- 
termine the  part  which  the  will  has  in  the  conclusions  of 
the  understanding.  That  there  can  be  no  belief  without 
evidence,  is  just  as  true  as  that  there  can  be  no  vision  with- 
out a  visible  object,  and  light  to  behold  it  in.  But  to  work 
the  belief,  it  is  not  enough  that  the  evidence  be  presented — 
it  must  also  be  perceived,  which  it  may  never  be  unless  it 
is  attended  to.  The  final  act  of  behef  may  be  as  much  the 
necessary  or  organic  result  of  the  evidence  at  the  time 
within  the  mind's  contemplation,  as  the  picture  on  the  retina 
of  the  eye  is  the  organic  result  of  all  the  light  which  falls 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS.  57 

upon  it  from  an  external  object.  The  will  may  have  noth- 
ing to  do  at  this  last  step  of  the  process,  and  yet  have  had 
much  to  do  at  the  previous  steps  of  it;  in  the  one  case  when 
attending  to  the  evidence  which  never  could  have  been 
perceived,  unless  brought  by  the  exercise  of  this  faculty 
within  the  sphere  of  observation ;  in  the  other,  when  looking 
to  the  visible  object  which  it  were  impossible  to  see,  had  the 
spectator  chosen  to  turn  away  from  it,  or  to  shut  his  eyes. 
14.  Let  us  apply  this  at  once  to  Christianity.  Should  a 
message  stamped  with  the  likelihood  of  having  come  from 
an  earthly  friend  be  brought  to  our  door ;  and  still  more, 
should  it  bear  not  the  pretension  only  but  the  aspect  of 
having  come  from  the  best  and  highest  friend  of  all,  our 
Father  in  heaven — then  to  turn  away  from  it,  and  to  refuse 
the  examination,  both  of  its  credentials  and  its  subject-matter 
might  be  to  risk  our  landing  in  a  state  of  unbelief,  which  not 
only  in  itself  is  intellectually,  but  which  when  viewed  in 
connection  with  the  antecedent  volition  which  gave  it  birth, 
is  morally  wrong.  It  is  not  the  incompetency  of  all  the 
evidence  we  saw  to  work  conviction  that  w^ill  justify  our 
want  of  it.  What  v/e  have  to  be  reckoned  with  for,  is  our 
inattention  to  those  premonitory  signals  which,  if  they  did 
not  bear  this  evidence  fully  and  legibly  inscribed  upon  them, 
at  least  pointed  out  the  quarter  where  it  lay  ;  and  which, 
had  we  explored,  might  have  brought  us  within  the  obser- 
vation of  what  we  did  not  see,  because  we  would  not  seek 
after.  We  see  not,  because  we  care  not.  We  have  fallen 
short  of  belief,  not,  for  aught  we  know,  from  the  want  of 
evidence,  but  clearly  in  our  case,  whatever  the  evidence, 
from  the  want  of  an  attention  that  we  choose  not  to  bestow. 
It  is  this  precisely  which  makes  the  unbelief  criminal,  and 
affixes  a  moral  characteristic  to  our  intellectual  state.  It 
is  on  this  ground  that  our  Saviour  Himself  pronounces  on 
the  culpability  of  unbelief,  and  resolves  it  into  the  evil  state 
of  men's  affections,  and  that  again  into  the  evil  of  their 
doings.  The  condemnation  of  it  is,  that  men  loved  dark- 
ness rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil.  (John 
iii.  19.)    And  that  they  searched  not  the  Scriptures,  because 

c=^= 


58  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

not  willing  to  come  to  Christ  that  they  might  have  life. 
(John  V.  39,  40.)  Let  a  professed  message  from  the  upper 
sanctuary  have  but  the  verisimilitude  of  this  high  claim ; 
and  this  confers  upon  it  the  real  and  rightful  claim,  if  not 
of  being  forthwith  believed,  at  least  of  being  forthwith  in- 
quired into.  To  regard  it  with  neglect,  even  at  this  initial 
stage,  is  to  incur  the  tremendous  hazard  of  having  neglected 
a  great  salvation — because  the  hazard  of  a  willful,  and 
therefore  a  criminal,  ignorance  of  such  doctrines  as  God 
wills  us  to  believe  for  our  everlasting  peace,  of  such  pre- 
cepts as  He  wills  us  to  perform  for  the  habits  and  the 
services  and  the  enjoyments  of  an  everlasting  blessedness 
in  heaven.  It  is  the  office  of  attention,  as  the  intermediate 
link  which  connects  the  moral  and  intellectual  departments 
of  our  nature,  or  as  the  ligament  which  binds  them — that 
explains  how  the  state  of  our  convictions  may  often  be  the 
fit  subject  of  a  judicial  cognizance;  and  how,  resolvable  as  it 
may  often  be  into  an  indifferency  to  God  and  to  His  will,  it 
may  become  the  matter  of  our  most  emphatic  condemnation.* 
15.  And  what  is  true  of  the  intellectual  is  to  a  great  ex- 
tent true  also  of  what  may  be  called  the  emotional  states 
of  the  mind.  If  belief  be  the  necessary  or  the  organic 
result  of  the  evidence  wherein  we  see  any  given  object  of 
contemplation,  emotion  may  be  as  much  the  necessary  or 
the  organic  result  of  those  characteristics  which  belong  to 
it,  and  which  are  present  at  the  time  to  the  mind  of  the  ob- 
server. When  he  looks  to  a  landscape  spread  out  before 
him,  he  might  no  more  help  the  sense  that  he  has  of  its 
beauty  than  the  sense  that  he  has  of  its  reality.  When  he 
thinks  of  the  kindness  of  a  friend,  the  consequent  gratitude 
may  come  as  much  unbidden  into  his  heart  as  does  the 
conviction  that  he  exists  into  his  understanding.  And  so 
of  the  recoil  which  is  felt  at  the  sight  of  some  loathsome 
creature,  which  may  be  as  little  a  thing  of  will,  and  as  much 
a  thing  of  physical  constitution,  as  is  the  sensation  which  its 

*  Man's  responsibility  for  his  belief  resolves  itself  into  responsibility  for  the 
direction  of  his  attention,  of  which  faculty  the  human  will  is  the  commander 
and  regulator.— 2  These,  ii.  10,  12;  Is.  i.  3;  Heb.  ii.  1-3;  Ps.  cxix.  9. 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS.  59 

color  impresses  on  the  retina  of  the  eye.  How  then  is  it 
that  we  become  responsible  for  our  emotions — for  our  de- 
sires and  our  aversions  and  our  resentments,  and  our  various 
other  mental  susceptibilities,  which  seem  to  be  no  more 
things  of  choice  than  the  felt  taste  of  any  given  food  when 
brought  into  contact  with  our  palates,  or  the  felt  heat  of  the 
fire  when  we  approach  our  hands  to  it? 

16.  The  responsibility  of  man  for  his  emotions  is  made 
out  in  the  same  way  that  the  responsibility  for  his  belief  is. 
It  is  true  that  he  cannot  bid  immediately  the  required  love 
into  his  heart,  or  bid  away  from  it  the  denounced  and  for- 
bidden hatred.  But  what  he  cannot  do  immediately,  he  can 
do  mediately.  He  cannot  will  the  emotions  so  as  that  at 
the  mere  word  of  command  they  shall  arise  in  his  heart  at 
any  given  instant ;  but  he  can  summon  to  the  presence  of 
his  mind  their  counterpart  objects,  which  may  then  work 
their  appropriate  influence  upon  his  feelings.  He  can  give 
his  attention  to  one  set  of  objects,  and  force  it  away  from 
another.  In  short,  the  objects  are  the  instruments  he  works 
by,  when  he  wants  either  to  awaken  or  preserve  in  his  bosom 
their  correspondent  feelings;  and  attention  is  the  faculty  by 
w^hich  he  keeps  his  hold  of  these  instruments,  and  brings 
tliem  to  bear  on  the  subjective  mind,  so  as  to  put  their  own 
proper  impress  on  the  sensibilities  of  our  nature.  I  can 
think  of  God's  love  to  me  in  Christ  Jesus ;  and  if  I  think 
believingly,  my  heart  will  be  thereby  warmed  into  the  love 
of  God  back  again.  Or  my  mind  can  cease  from  thinking 
of  the  injury  that  would  excite  me  to  revenge,  when  my 
heart  will  cease  from  its  fierce  and  fiery  agitations.  Even 
should  it  be  impossible  to  view  with  the  love  of  moral  com- 
placency the  enemy  who  has  done  me  wrong — still  by 
looking  in  another  direction,  by  shifting  my  regards  from 
his  character  to  his  state,  I  might  view  him  with  the  love 
of  compassion — nay,  with  the  love  of  kindness :  And  as  I 
dwell  in  thought  on  the  certainty  of  his  coming  death,  and 
the  possibihty  of  its  unrepentant  horrors — instead  of  resent- 
ing the  injustice  of  his  short-lived  triumph,  I  may  be  led  to 
pity  and  to  pray  for  him.     And  thus  it  is  that  attention,  or 


60  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

consideration,  or  reflection,  which,  term  it  as  we  may,  is  an 
intellectual  exercise  under  the  will's  control,  and  for  which, 
therefore,  we  are  liable  to  be  judicially  dealt  with — is  so 
mighty  as  an  implement  of  culture,  whether  in  the  natural 
school  of  morality  for  the  discipline  of  the  heart,  or  for  the 
lessons  of  spiritual  and  experimental  Christianity  in  the 
school  of  the  gospel.* 

17.  This  law  of  the  mental  physiology,  this  relation  be- 
tween the  understanding  and  the  heart,  or  between  the 
objects  of  an  intellectual  contemplation,  and  the  emotions 
which  are  excited  thereby,  is  of  the  utmost  theological  im- 
portance, and  evinces  a  most  beautiful  and  beneficial  har- 
mony between  the  constitution  of  the  human  mind  and  the 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  revelation.  We  might  have  ex- 
tended the  operation  of  the  law  to  the  appetites  as  well  as 
the  emotions — for  though  it  be  not  thought  of  food  which 
calls  forth  hunger,  or  of  water  which  calls  forth  thirst,  cer- 
tain it  is  that  the  appetency  for  an  intoxicating  beverage 
may  in  this  way  be  whetted  and  fomented ;  and  that  we 
must  turn  away  our  sight  and  eyes  from  viewing  vanity, 
as  well  as  our  thoughts  from  the  very  imagination  of  it,  in 
order  to  shake  off  the  most  hurtful  and  degrading  of  those 
passions  which  war  against  the  soul.  This  only  gives  a 
wider  generality  to  the  statement,  that  the  intellect  must  be 
rightly  occupied,  in  order  to  right  affections  or  right  desires 
of  any  sort  having  practically  the  dominion  over  us.  We 
shall  thus  understand  the  place  of  ascendency,  or  of  presid- 
ing guardianship  and  command,  which  is  assigned  to  faith 
in  the  moral  dynamics  of  the  New  Testament;  and  will 
recognize  the  sound  philosophy  as  well  as  scriptural  au^ 
thority  of  such  sayings  as  "  sanctified  by  faith,"  "  renewed 
in  knowledge,"  "  living  a  life  of  faith  on  the  Son  of  God," 
"  sanctified  by  the  truth,"  <*  v/alking  in  the  truth" — regener- 
ated by  the  power  of  it,  or,  "  born  again  by  the  incorrupti- 
ble seed  of  the  word,"  receiving  power  to  become  new 
creatures,  or  to  becom.e  the  sons  of  God  through  the  opera- 

*  The  responsibility  of  man  for  his  emotions  is  resolvable  into  the  sama 
principle  with  his  responsibility  for  his  belief, — Rev.  xxii.  15 ;  Col,  iii.  5, 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS.  61 

tion  of  our  belief  in  Christ  Jesus.  There  is  no  man  deeply 
read  in  the  philosophy  of  our  nature,  if  he  but  make  a  study 
of  our  present  lesson,  who  will  not  perceive  of  this  belief 
that  it  is  the  turning-point  of  a  new  character,  as  well  as 
of  a  new  condition  and  new  prospects — that  there  must  be 
a  moral  along  with  the  intellectual  change ;  and  that  if  in 
virtue  of  the  one  he  be  indeed  translated  out  of  darkness  into 
marvelous  light,  then  as  the  sure  and  unfailing  consequence, 
in  virtue  of  the  other,  he  will  be  translated  from  the  spirit 
of  bondage  and  fear  into  love  and  liberty,  and  the  generous 
inspiration  of  all  goodness.  It  is  thus  that  the  most  effectual 
preachers  of  faith  are  also  the  most  effectual  preachers  of 
righteousness  ;  and  such  is  the  sui'e  concatenation  between 
the  enlightenment  of  the  understanding  and  enlargement 
of  the  heart,  that,  let  a  man  but  know  God  as  a  Friend 
and  reconciled  Father,  and  from  that  moment  he  is  on  firm 
vantage-ground  for  the  services  of  a  grateful  and  wiUing 
obedience.* 

18.  The  next  law  of  the  mental  physiology  that  we 
recommend  for  special  consideration  to  the  theological 
student,  is  the  law  of  habit.  There  are  certain  of  its 
applications  so  very  obvious  that  we  need  scarcely  advert 
to  them — as  in  the  business  of  the  pulpit,  when  employed 
by  the  preacher  for  giving  emphasis  and  urgency  to  his 
calls  of  immediate  repentance — seeing  that  every  day  of 
perseverance  in  the  spirit  and  ways  of  ungodliness  strength- 
ens the  inveteracy  of  this  natural  and  universal  disease,  and 
makes  the  moral  recovery  of  those  on  whom  all  this  earnest- 
ness is  thrown  away  still  more  hopeless  and  impracticable 
than  before.  At  present  we  view  it  more  as  the  indication 
of  a  natural  regimen,  the  establishment  of  which  seems  to 
evince  the  purposes  of  Him  who  is  at  once  the  Creator  and 
Governor  of  men,  or  what  may  be  termed  the  policy  of  the 
divine  administration.     To  explain  our  meaning  it  is  not 

*  Habitual  and  believing  attention  to  the  objective  truths  of  Christianity 
is  the  great  instrument  of  bringing  the  mind  into  right  subjective  states. — 

1  John  iv.  10,  16,  19  ;  Jude  20,  21 ;  Gal.  ii.  20 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  2 ;  John  xvii.  17; 

2  Cor.  iii.  18. 


62  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

required  that  we  shall  enter  on  the  analysis  or  philosophy 
of  habit ;  for  any  conclusion  which  we  mean  now  to  offer 
is  grounded  on  the  most  palpable  of  its  phenomena — which 
are,  first,  the  increasing  facility  of  virtue  to  those  who  reso- 
lutely, and  in  the  face  of  every  temptation,  keep  by  its  les- 
sons and  its  laws  ;  and  secondly,  the  more  prone  and  head- 
long tendency,  aggravated  and  confirmed  at  length  into  the 
helpless  necessity  of  sinning  on  the  part  of  those  who,  given 
to  self-indulgence,  become  the  votaries  of  disobedience  and 
vice.  It  is  not  of  any  reward  for  the  one  or  punishment 
for  the  other  coming  ah  extra  that  we  now  speak — of  a 
local  heaven,  teeming  with  the  means  of  enjoyment,  or  a 
local  hell,  where  pains  and  sufferings  are  inflicted  as  the 
wages  of  iniquity.  We  speak  of  the  effect  which  virtue 
and  vice  respectively  have  on  the  mind  and  character  of 
their  respective  followers,  in  that  they  tend  so  to  fix  and 
establish  their  own  influence  over  them,  that  after  a  time 
they  who  have  been  righteous  are  righteous  still,  or  they 
who  have  been  unjust  and  unholy  are  unjust  and  unholy 
still.  It  is  of  this  subjective  operation  only  that  I  am  now 
speaking,  and  not  of  any  other  doom  than  the  unchangeable 
moral  doom  which  awaits  the  good  and  the  evil.  Men  live 
long  enough  to  see  the  exemplification  of  it  even  in  this 
world,  though  perhaps  it  was  greatly  more  patent  in  ante- 
diluvian times,  though  only  realized  thei'e  on  one  side  of  the 
picture,  when  the  period  of  discipline  extended  to  nearly  a 
thousand  years  ;  and,  as  if  in  conformity  with  this,  we  read 
that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great  on  the  earth,  which 
was  corrupt  and  full  of  violence  ;  and  also,  as  if  to  restrain 
our  species  from  ever  rising  here,  at  least  to  such  heights 
of  irreclaimable  profligacy,  the  natural  life  was  shortened  to 
a  hundred  and  twenty  years  by  Him  whose  Spirit  would  no 
longer  strive  with  men,  now  advanced  to  a  wickedness  more 
enormous  than  could  be  any  longer  tolerated  in  the  world. 
19.  This  view  might  afford  even  to  natural  theology  the 
glimpse  of  our  coming  futurity  in  another  state  of  being. 
Suppose  that  there  had  been  no  death,  but  that  an  immortal- 
ity on  earth  had  been  alike  stamped  on  two  diflferent  societies 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS.  63 

— one  of  the  virtuous  and  another  of  the  profligate  among 
mankind — the  one  ripening  and  expanding  and  confirming 
more  and  more  every  age  towards  the  perfection  of  moral 
excellence,  and  the  other  in  Hke  manner  towards  the  per= 
fection,  if  we  may  so  call  it,  of  moral  depravity — till  the 
certainty  of  each  abiding  by  its  own  specific  and  now  fixed 
character,  had  become  absolute  and  irrevocable.  Had  such 
been  the  arrangement,  that  terrestrial  pandemonium  which 
was  realized  before  the  flood  would  have  been  perpetual, 
and  every  new  cycle  of  time  would  have  brought  an  acces- 
sion to  its  atrocities  and  its  horrors.  Now,  to  conceive  of 
this  as  the  real  immortality  which  is  in  reserve  for  the 
wicked,  we  have  only  to  imagine  that  they  bear  the  iden- 
tical habits  and  tendencies  of  their  present  life  across  the 
grave  with  them  to  the  place  of  their  everlasting  destination. 
We  speak  not  now  of  their  physical  condition  in  respect  of 
pain  or  pleasure  there,  but  of  their  moral  character  in  re- 
spect of  worth  or  wickedness  there ;  and  it  does  afford,  even 
apart  from  revelation,  a  dubious,  it  may  be,  but  still  a  likely 
perspective  of  the  final  issue  of  things — when,  on  the  side 
of  the  upright,  we  shall  behold  an  indefinite  ascent  in  the 
ethereal  heights,  which  never  terminate,  both  of  greater 
holiness  and  greater  love  ;  and,  on  the  side  of  the  reprobate, 
an  always  deepening  hue  of  fouler  depravity,  of  more  fell 
malignity  and  defiance  and  rebellious  hatred  and  hardihood 
than  before.  This  were  but  the  continuance  or  further  de- 
velopment of  a  progression  now  before  our  eyes ;  and  as 
such  not  improbable,  even  w^ith  no  other  lights  to  guide 
us  than  those  of  naked  and  unassisted  theism — certainly 
strengthened,  however,  by  the  intimations  of  Scripture.* 

20.  And  there  is  a  harmony  altogether  worthy  of  obser- 
vation between  the  law  of  habit,  which  forms  part  of  the 
natural  economy  of  the  human  spirit,  and  a  certain  part  or 
process  in  the  revealed  enonomy  of  the  gospel.     In  virtue 

*  The  tendency  of  moral  qualities  to  fix  and  perpetuate  themselves  in  the 
chai'acter,  till  the  wickedness  or  tlie  goodness  be  so  far  confirmed  as  to  be 
irrecoverable  ;  the  miseries  of  the  one  and  delights  of  the  other  may  form  the 
main  ingredients  of  the  eternal  wretchedness  or  felicity  in  a  future  stale. 
Rev.  xxii.  li ;  Gal.  vi.  7,  8  ;  Prov.  i.  31 ;  xi.  30;  Rom.  xiv-  17. 


64  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

of  the  former,  let  there  to-day  be  a  struggle  between  tempt- 
ation and  the  sense  of  duty;  and  should  conscience,  or  this 
sense  of  duty,  be  overborne,  then  on  the  morrow  conscience 
will  offer  a  feebler  resistance  than  before,  and  so  temptation, 
still  surer  of  the  mastery,  will  at  every  renewal  of  the 
assault,  speed  onward  with  all  the  greater  certainty,  and 
effect  the  work  of  moral  deterioration.  Now,  in  keeping 
with  this,  we  are  told  in  the  Bible,  that  it  is  the  Spirit  of 
God  who  operates  on  the  spirit  of  man,  to  stimulate  both  his 
aspirations  after  all  that  is  good,  and  his  resistance  to  all 
that  is  evil.  Let  us  imagine,  then,  that  instead  of  comply- 
ing with  the  suggestion  of  this  heavenly  visitant,  w^e  stifle 
and  withstand  it ;  then  the  distinct  intimation  of  Scripture 
is,  that  the  Spirit  is  grieved  by  such  a  treatment— that  He 
is  alienated  more  and  more  the  longer  we  persevere  in  this 
neglect  of  Him  and  of  His  warnings — that  He  at  length 
ceases  to  strive,  and  all  His  influences  for  good  are  with- 
drawn from  a  heart  within  which  they  had  so  often  sought 
a  lodgment,  and  as  often  been  quenched  and  extinguished. 
And  so  at  last  grace  gives  up  the  contest  with  nature — 
leaving  it  to  the  wild  misrule  of  its  own  unchecked  propen- 
sities, that  it  may  be  filled  with  the  fruit  of  its  own  ways. 
It  is  thus  that  in  the  moral  history  of  every  unrepentant 
sinner,  these  two  laws — the  law  of  habit  and  the  law  of  the 
Spirit  of  God — fit  in  as  it  were  to  each  other,  and  act  con- 
spiringly  together  towards  the  same  fearful  result — a  creat- 
ure abandoned  to  itself,  and  left  without  any  counteractive 
influence  to  stay  or  to  mitigate  those  evil  passions  which 
had  been  fostered  through  life ;  and  which,  with  all  the 
tenacity  of  an  undying  worm,  will  cleave  to  him  as  their 
prey  and  their  victim  through  eternity.* 

21.  But  ere  that  we  have  finished  this  contemplation,  we 
must  have  recourse  to  another  law  of  the  mental  physiology. 
We  have  already  seen  that  the  affections  of  our  nature, 
whether  good  or  evil,  are  strengthened  by  indulgence,  till 

*  In  harmony  with  the  law  of  habit  is,  generally  speaking,  the  method  of 
the  Spirit's  deding  with  men ;  withdrawn  from  those  who  resist  Him,  given 
in  larger  measure  to  those  who  obey  Him.— Acts  y.  32 ;  Mark  iv.  25 ;  Eph. 
iv.  30 ;  1  Thess.  v.  19 ;  Gen.  yi.  3 ;  1  John  y.  16. 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS.  C5 

at  length,  through  the  operation  of  habit,  they  become  the 
fixed  and  irreversible  principles  of  our  character,  with  full 
ascendency  over  us.  Now,  couple  with  the  force  of  this 
moral  necessity  the  undoubted  fact  of  the  happiness,  the 
inherent  and  essential  happiness,  which  lies  in  the  exercise 
of  our  good  affections  ;  and  the  wretchedness  alike  inherent 
of  every  spirit  that  is  corroded  or  tempest-driven  by  the 
venom  or  violence  of  bad  ones— and  out  of  these  elements 
alone  both  a  heaven  and  a  hell  can  be  imagined,  where 
either  virtue  is  its  own  reward,  or  vice  its  own  self-tor- 
mentor through  eternity.  We  dispute  not  the  possibility 
or  even  the  likelihood  of  other  ingredients — of  the  physical 
delights  and  gratifications  which  a  beneficent  Father  might 
shower  down  among  the  habitations  of  the  righteous ;  of 
the  physical  discomforts  and  agonies  which  are  ministered 
in  ceaseless  vengeance  throughout  the  region  of  the  ungodly. 
But  there  lies  a  great  theological  lesson,  not  only  in  the 
efifect  of  repeated  acts  to  stamp  a  perpetual  character,  but 
in  the  effect  of  character  alone  and  of  itself,  on  our  state  of 
enjoyment — whether  we  look,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  heart's 
ease,  the  complacency,  the  oil  of  gladness,  the  thousand 
pleasurable  sensations  attendant  on  the  love  of  God  and  the 
happy  consciousness  of  His  favor,  the  sweets  of  charity  be- 
tween man  and  man,  and,  along  with  the  sunshine  of  their 
mutual  confidence,  the  play  of  those  mutual  sympathies 
which  act  and  react,  when  gratitude  and  good- will  come 
together,  in  cordial  and  confiding  fellowship  ;  or,  in  contrast 
with  these,  the  reverse  influences  of  a  distempered  morale, 
when  envy  and  suspicion  and  hatred  and  discontent  fret  and 
tumultuate  in  every  bosom,  and  ever  and  anon  break  forth 
in  storms  of  fiercest  controversy — where  all  is  darkness 
above  them,  among  creatures  thus  living  in  the  state  of  de- 
fiance to  an  angry  God,  and  all  is  moral  anarchy  around 
them,  among  these  same  creatures  fired  wdth  licentious  or 
vindictive  passions  against  each  other.  There  is,  we  say, 
a  lesson  of  soundest  theology  to  be  gathered  from  such  a 
contemplation.  It  demonstrates  of  how  little  avail  justifi- 
cation were  for  the  happiness  of  our  eternity  if  not  accom- 
panied by  sanctification.     It  tells  us  that  though  the  right- 


66  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

eousness  of  Christ  were  made  judicially  ours,  so  as  to  invest 
us  with  a  full  and  vaUd  title  of  entry  into  heaven,  yet  our 
salvation  is  incomplete  unless  the  graces  of  His  character 
become  personally  ours,  so  as  to  qualify  us  for  heaven's 
exercises  and  heaven's  joys.  The  gospel  has  not  broken  up 
the  connection  between  love  and  enjoj^ment  on  the  one  hand, 
between  hatred  and  misery  on  the  other.  These  abide  the 
unrepealed,  the  invariable  sequences  of  our  spiritual  econo- 
my— so  that  to  make  good  the  happiness  of  heaven,  it  is  as 
indispensable  as  ever  that  we  acquire  the  spirit  and  the 
character  of  heaven.  This  we  know  from  the  distinct  and 
repeated  averments  of  holy  writ ;  but  it  is  well  that  on  the 
foundation  of  mental  science  we  can  raise  another  invincible 
barrier  against  the  errors  of  Antinomianism. 

22.  To  obey  God  is  followed  up  by  the  greater  facility 
of  obedience — to  sin  against  Him  is  followed  up  by  the 
greater  necessity  of  sinning.  In  the  one  case  we  become 
every  day  more  proficient  and  accomplished  than  before, 
as  the  scholars  of  righteousness — in  the  other  more  helpless 
and  degraded  than  before,  as  the  slaves  of  iniquity.  This 
might  well  be  called  a  regimen  of  moral  rewards  and  moral 
penalties  ;  and  when  we  join  with  it  the  consideration  that 
virtue  has  its  own  native  pleasures,  and  vice  its  own  native 
disquietudes  and  pains,  then  do  we  behold  in  the  spirit  of 
man,  constituted  as  he  is,  a  self-working  mechanism  by 
which  the  sanctions  of  law  are  executed,  and  the  govern- 
ment of  a  holy  Lawgiver  is  upholden.  Under  such  a  dis- 
cipline as  this,  which  is  in  perfect  analogy  with  all  that 
passes  before  us,  we  might  see  in  the  eternity  of  hell-tor- 
ments— not,  as  has  been  represented  by  the  enemies  of  the 
Christian  faith,  a  monstrous  disproportion  between  the 
punishment  and  the  crime — not  a  wretchedness  that  never 
ends  in  return  for  the  wickedness  of  a  brief  and  ephemeral 
life-time — but  we  see  a  wickedness  confirmed  and  unre- 
pented  of  here  carried  with  all  its  acquired  tendencies  and 
habits  across  the  grave,  and  perpetuating  itself  there  in  new 
and  multiplied  and  ever-recurring  transgressions.  The 
sufferings  are  bound  up  with  the  sins ;  and  the  one  is  eternal 


PRELIMINARY  METAPHYSICS.  __  67 

just  because  the  other  is  eternal.  The  creature  suffers 
everlastingly  just  because  he  sins  everlastingly :  and  in  his 
awful  destiny  we  behold,  not  an  endurance  that  never  ends 
in  remuneration  for  the  offenses  of  a  few  years,  but  the 
continued  operation  of  that  law  by  which  sin  and  suffering 
do  constantly  follow  each  other,  whether  in  the  present  or 
in  a  future  state  of  existence.  It  is  not  because  we  like  to 
indulge  in  a  cold-blooded  speculation  that  we  give  forth 
this  argument;  but  because  of  its  urgent  and  immediate 
bearing  on  practical  Christianity — seeing  that  it  would 
slacken  the  operation  of  every  motive  to  flee  from  the 
coming  wrath,  if  men  were  untaught  the  lesson  that  now  or 
never  was  the  alternative  on  which  their  eternity  w^as  sus- 
pended ;  and  that  in  striving  to  be  right  and  religious  here, 
they  in  truth  were  striving  for  their  all. 

23.  Many  other  applications  of  the  mental  physiology 
might  be  adduced,  and  of  its  service  in  conducting  to  a 
right  and  a  wise  deliverance  on  theological  questions.  At 
present,  however,  we  shall  give  but  one  specimen  more, 
and  which  we  select  as  among  the  best  of  these  adaptations. 
We  are  indebted  for  it  to  the  admirable  sagacity  of  Bistiop 
Butler,  who  first  distinguished  between  each  of  the  special 
affections  and  that  more  general  affection  which  is  the  love 
of  self;  and  then  pointed  out  the  difference  between  what 
he  calls  the  terminating  object  of  a  special  affection,  and 
that  accompanying  pleasure  which  is  felt  in  the  indulgence 
of  it.  Take  compassion  for  an  example  of  this.  The 
proper  object  of  this  affection  is  the  relief  of  misery,  in  the 
fulfillment  of  which  object  it  rests  and  terminates.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  more  intense  the  compassion  is,  the  more 
intently  will  it  be  set  upon  its  object,  to  the  exclusion  for  the 
time  being  of  everything  else  from  the  mind — having  all  its 
regards  monopolized,  as  it  were,  by  the  wretchedness  which 
is  before  it,  and  actuated  by  no  other  desire  at  the  moment 
than  that  of  doing  it  away.  It  is  thus  that  he  demonstrates 
the  disinterested  character  of  this,  and  indeed  of  every 
special  affection  whatever— it  being  quite  clear  of  every 
such  affection,  that  it  is  wholly  distinct  from  the  love  of  self; 


68  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  that  the  stronger  it  is,  the  mind  is  all  the  more  thor- 
oughly engrossed  with  its  own  proper  object,  and  so  more 
away  from  the  consideration  of  self,  the  gratification  of 
which,  or  the  advantage  of  which,  forms  no  part  at  the 
time  of  its  aim  or  of  its  thoughts.  And  yet  this  does  not 
hinder,  but  that  in  the  indulgence  of  this  affection  there 
might,  and  indeed  from  the  very  nature  of  affections  we 
think  that  there  must  be,  an  accompanying  pleasure.  Nay, 
the  stronger  the  affection,  the  greater  must  be  the  pleasure. 
And  yet  it  is  not  this  pleasure  that  the  mind  is  looking  to, 
or  laying  itself  out  for ;  but,  recurring  to  our  example,  it 
looks  to  another's  wretchedness  alone,  and  lays  itself  out  for 
the  relief  of  that  wretchedness  alone.  This  has  been  most 
felicitously  illustrated  by  Butler  from  the  appetite  of  hunger 
— the  proper  object  of  which  in  the  use  of  food  is  relief 
from  its  own  cravings,  not  the  pleasure  of  eating.  And  as 
of  this  appetite,  so  of  every  special  affection.  The  object 
to  which  it  seeks,  and  in  which  it  finds  its  rest  and  its  com- 
placent gratification,  is  altogether  distinct  from  the  compla- 
cency itself,  or  from  the  enjoyment  which  accompanies  the 
gratification.  This  enjoyment  though  felt  by  self  is  not  the 
thing  aimed  at  by  self;  and  though  incidental  to  every 
special  affection,  yet  is  it  but  an  accessory  or  collateral, 
and  as  distinct  from  the  object  of  the  affection,  as  the  way 
to  a  landing-place  is  distinct  from  the  landing-place.  This 
may  appear  a  subtle,  but  is  a  most  sound  and  substantial 
distinction  notwithstanding ;  and  of  the  very  greatest  use, 
particularly  in  ethical  science,  where  it  cuts  up  by  the  roots 
both  the  selfish  and  the  utilitarian  systems  of  morality. 

24.  But  it  is  of  value  in  theology  also — more  particularly 
in  enabling  us  to  adjust  a  question  which  has  been  raised 
about  the  disinterested  love  of  God.  Every  special  affec- 
tion, in  fact,  may  be  said  to  be  disinterested — and  that  in 
respect  of  its  having  a  distinct  object  of  its  own,  separate 
from  the  good  or  the  advantage  of  self,  the  love  we  bear  to 
w^hich  being  properly  the  only  selfish  affection  of  our  nature. 
In  this  sense,  the  ravenous  appetite  for  intoxicating  liquors, 
when  looked  to  philosophically,  is  just  as  disinterested  as  is 


PRELIMINARY  INIETAPHYSICS.  69 

the  urgent  feeling  of  compassion — both  of  them  being  set  on 
distinct  objects  of  their  own  ;  and  neither  of  them  certainly 
having  the  good  of  self  for  its  aim,  which,  properly  and 
scientifically,  is  the  alone  interested  pursuit  whereof  the  mind 
is  capable.  And  it  is  just  so  of  our  love  to  God.  There  is 
pleasure  in  the  exercise  of  this  special  affection  as  in  every 
other ;  but  this  pleasure  is  only  the  accompaniment  of  the 
affection,  and  not  its  object- — the  mind  in  the  act  of  its  in- 
dulgence being  wholly  away  from  self  and  wholly  set  upon 
God,  or  upon  the  graces  and  glories  of  His  character.  Not- 
withstanding then  of  the  accompanying  pleasure,  it  is  still  a 
disinterested  affection — nay,  the  greater  the  pleasure  the 
more  disinterested  it  is — this  pleasure,  it  is  clear,  being  in 
proportion  to  the  strength  of  the  affection,  which  strength 
of  affection  insures  that  the  mind  at  the  time  of  its  exercise 
is  all  the  more  intently  set  upon  its  object,  and  all  the  more 
away  from  any  reflex  or  subjective  regards  upon  itself. 
Altogether  it  may  be  said  to  form  an  exquisite  principle  in 
the  constitution  of  the  mind,  that  when  indulging  a  special 
affection,  then  in  very  proportion  as  its  own  enjoyment  is 
less  in  its  thoughts,  or  less  the  object  of  its  desire,  because 
then  engrossed  with  wholly  another  object,  the  greater  is 
that  enjoyment.  We  are  not  denying  that  the  love  of  self 
is  a  legitimate  affection,  far  more  than  very  many  of  the 
special  affections  which  could  be  named :  we  are  only  say- 
ing, be  they  good  or  evil,  they  are  all  of  them  distinct  from 
the  love  of  self,  and  that  although  each  ministers  to  the 
gratification  of  self,  in  the  act  and  at  the  time  of  its  own 
gratification.  One's  own  happiness,  which  is  the  proper 
object  of  self-love,  is  a  fair  and  right  object  of  pursuit  and 
calculation.  Our  Saviour  on  earth  served  and  suffered  for 
the  joy  that  was  set  before  him  ;  yet  is  it  nevertheless  true, 
that  the  highest  of  our  joys  in  heaven  never  can  be  reached 
but  through  a  disinterested  medium — the  love  of  God  for 
Himself — the  love  of  holiness  for  its  own  sake.* 

*  Every  special  affection  is  distinct  from  the  love  of  self,  and  the  pleasure 
which  accompanies  the  indulgence  of  such  is  distinct  from  the  obj^ect  in  which 
It  terminates.— 'Heb.  xii,  2 ;  Matt.  xix.  19 ;  xxii.  37. 


CHAPTER   m. 

ON  CERTAIN  INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS  PRESENT  TO  EVERY 
MIND,  AND  WHICH  LAY  THE  OBLIGATION  UPON  ALL  OF 
GIVING  TO  RELIGION  THEIR  SERIOUS  ENTERTAINMENT. 

1.  But  far  the  most  important  lesson  in  the  science  of  the 
mental  physiology  is  the  supremacy  of  conscience — ^^the 
discovery  also  of  Bishop  Butler,  or  at  least  first  given  forth 
by  him  in  clear  and  formal  announcement  for  the  benefit  of 
the  w^orld.  Yet  we  have  reserved  it  for  our  present  Chap- 
ter, because  we  hold  this  law  to  be  the  real  originator  of 
certain  moral  forces  which  operate  in  every  mind,  and  give 
it  the  first  impulses  towards  any  earnest  thought  or  inquiry 
after  God. 

2.  We  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  expound  here  this 
great  principle,  which  Butler  has  set  forth  with  so  much 
perspicuity  and  philosophical  precision.  Let  me  refer  you 
therefore  to  the  three  first  of  his  famous  fifteen  sermons,  all 
of  which  are  worthy  of  being  most  seriously  pondered  by 
the  theological  student ;  and  whereof  those  now  specially 
recommended  are  capable,  we  think,  of  being  so  used  and 
applied  as  to  give  him  a  most  commanding  position  at  the 
outset  of  his  professional  studies.  A  few  of  these  applica- 
tions it  shall  now  be  our  endeavor  to  unfold. 

3.  The  sense  of  right  and  wrong  is  universal  in  our  spe- 
cies. This  moral  faculty  has  been  termed  a  voice  within 
us ;  and  if  so,  there  is  no  speech  nor  language  where  the 
voice  is  not  heard.  The  evidence  for  a  universal  conscience 
throughout  the  human  family  is  to  be  found  in  the  vocables 
of  all  nations;  and  could  so  very  extensive  an  induction  be 
made,  might  be  found  piecemeal,  and  with  no  exception,  by 
successive  acts  of  distinct  individual  converse,  save  in  the 
cases  of  infancy  and  idiotism,  wherever  man  or  woman  was 
to  be  met  with.  Certain  it  is,  that  missionaries,  whose  field 
of  enterprise  is  the  whole  earth,  even  to  its  most  remote 
and  savage  lands,  when  they  speak  (and  it  is  among  their 


INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  71 

first  and  earliest  themes)  of  good  and  evil  in  the  sense  of 
what  ought  and  what  ought  not  to  be  done,  they  do  not 
startle  the  natives  as  if  by  the  utterence  of  things  unknown 
but  meet  with  the  full  sympathy  at  least  of  their  under- 
standings, or  with  the  response  of  a  ready  intelligence 
everywhere.  There  is,  as  part  and  parcel  of  their  mental 
constitution,  a  judgment  of  what  is  i-ight  and  what  is  wrong 
in  every  bosom,  though  we  do  not  contend  for  the  absolute 
uniformity  of  these  judgments.  Our  concern  at  present  is 
with  the  faculty,  or  judge  in  every  breast — and  that  whether, 
or  not  there  be  a  perfect  identity  in  the  verdicts  which  are 
severally  given  forth  by  them.  We  hear  much  of  the  di- 
versities in  their  moral  estimate  of  the  same  thing,  which 
obtain  among  the  people  of  different  countries  and  ages. 
It  is  not  essential  to  any  reasoning  of  ours  that  we  should 
now  attempt  any  explanation  or  adjustment  of  these  diver- 
sities. We  believe  it  to  be  a  semblance,  and  little  more ; 
and  that  on  the  application  of  right  tests  for  the  determina- 
tion of  this  matter,  it  will  be  found  that  the  same  iniquities 
are  condemned,  and  that  goodness  and  truth  and  honesty 
are  justified  and  held  in  reverence  all  the  world  over. 

-  4.  But  it  is  not  with  the  lessons  of  conscience  that  we  at 
present  have  to  do,  or  with  the  uniformity  of  these  lessons. 
It  is  of  the  authority  wherewith  they  are  given  forth  that 
w^e  now  speak — an  authority  felt  by  all  to  be  rightful, 
whether  deferred  to  in  practice  or  not.  It  may  not  be  the 
habit  of  all  men  to  obey  conscience ;  but  it  is  the  sentiment 
of  all  men  that  conscience  ought  to  be  obeyed.  This  is 
necessarily  involved  in  the  very  idea  of  conscience — its 
precise  function  being  to  take  cognizance  of  the  right  and 
the  wrong — of  the  ought  and  the  ought  not.  The  supremacy 
of  conscience  may  be  regarded  therefore  as  an  identical 
proposition.  To  say  that  it  is  right  to  obey  conscience,  is 
but  to  say  that  it  is  right  to  do  what  is  right.  The  faculty 
then  which  thus  tells  of  the  right  and  the  wrong,  is  in  its 
very  nature  the  master  faculty  of  the  mind.  When  it  speaks, 
it  must,  from  the  office  which  essentially  belongs  to  it,  be 
with  the  voice  of  one  having  authority — standing  as  it  does 


72  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

from  the  lessons  in  which  it  deals,  with  the  right  and  in  the 
relation  of  a  superior  over  all  the  other  desires  and  faculties 
of  our  nature — and  being  not  the  teacher  only,  but  the 
commander  of  righteousness.  Her  part  is  that  of  lawgiver 
to  the  mind,  and  that  whether  we  perform  our  part  or  not 
of  obedience  to  her  laws.  Her  right  is  not  abrogated  by 
our  rebellion,  any  more  than  the  government  of  a  nation  is 
cast  down  from  its  legitimacy,  though  cast  down  from  ex- 
ecutive power  in  the  anarchy  of  the  state,  or  by  the  lawless 
insurrection  of  its  subjects.  This  is  the  supremacy  of  con- 
science, as  first  expounded  by  Bishop  Butler.  Whether  she 
be  sovereign  de  facto  or  not,  she  is  sovereign  de  jure,  and 
as  such,  recognized  and  read  of  all  men. 

5.  This,  then,  is  the  faculty  which  each  man  feels  to  be 
striving  within  him — a  judge  within  the  breast ;  and  to  make 
the  impression  more  complete,  with  the  power  too  of  sum- 
mary execution,  both  for  the  dispensation  of  rewards  and 
the  infliction  of  penalties — an  instant  complacency  in  the 
act  of  well-doing,  the  bitterness  of  remorse  in  the  retrospect 
of  evil.  It  may  be  difficult  to  estimate  the  strength  of  ar- 
gument for  a  God  in  this  phenomenon  of  a  universal  con- 
science, the  supremacy  whereof  is  felt  by  all  men ;  but  it  is 
not  difficult  to  imagine  what  thoughts,  what  apprehensions, 
it  will  suggest  to  each  man.  The  feeling  of  a  judge  within 
him  will  not  fail  to  be  associated  in  his  mind  with  the  idea 
of  a  judge  over  him,  in  the  shape  of  an  impression  at  least 
if  not  of  an  inference.  We  do  not  speak  of  what  might 
logically  be  made  of  this  phenomenon,  or  how  much  a  rea- 
soner  might  tell  him  to  believe  because  of  it.  We  speak 
of  that  which  passes  singly  and  spontaneously  in  the  home- 
stead of  the  man's  own  thoughts — or  what  it  is  that,  with 
the  constant  presence  of  such  a  monitor,  his  spirit  will  at 
times  conjure  up  in  its  own  solitary  workings,  and  apart 
from  communion  with  all  his  fellows.  We  speak  of  that 
which  takes  place  in  the  cell  of  his  own  feehngs,  and  his 
own  cogitations  ;  and  affirm  of  every  man,  that,  exercised 
and  lessoned  by  these,  he  cannot  make  escape  at  least  from 
the  notion  of  a  God.     I  will  not  say  at  present  whether 


INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  73 

these  must  give  him  the  belief,  but  they  will  at  least  give 
him  the  conception  of  a  God.  If  not  convinced  of  Him,  he 
will  at  all  events  conceive  of  Him.  It  is  in  virtue  of  this 
ever  busy  and  ever  whispering  conscience  within  him,  if 
there  be  not  the  certainty,  not  even  the  probability,  there 
will  at  the  very  least  be  the  imagination  of  a  God.  It  is 
this  faculty,  in  truth,  with  its  ever  recurring  instigations, 
which  gives  to  humanity  its  strongest  sense  of  a  God.  Apart 
from  revelation,  it  is  the  theology  of  conscience,  and  not 
the  theology  of  academic  demonstration,  which  originated 
or  upholds  religion  in  the  world.  It  is  because  of  this  part 
or  peculiarity  in  our  mental  constitution  that  we  have  a 
popular  theology  anywhere,  nor  can  we  explain  it  other- 
wise than  by  the  universality  of  such  a  constitution  that  we 
have  a  popular  theology  everywhere.  This  tallies  at  all 
points  with  the  experience  of  missionaries.  They  may  make 
utterance  of  God  with  as  much  freedom  in  the  ear  of  the 
rudest  savages  as  they  do  of  right  and  wrong ;  and  the 
theological  is  not  more  strange  to  their  hearers  than  is  the 
ethical  conception.  The  two  conceptions,  in  fact,  seem  to 
be  intimately  blended  in  every  bosom,  insomuch  that  w^e 
are  not  sensible  of  the  inference  w^hich  conducts  by  one  step 
from  the  feeling  of  a  supreme  conscience  within,  to  the 
notion  of  a  supreme  God  who  is  above  and  over  us. 

6.  And  here  let  me  intimate  once  for  all  that  I  have  no 
confidence  even  in  the  general  doctrine  of  innate  ideas,  and 
can  see  no  evidence  for  the  human  mind  having  the  innate 
idea,  and  far  less  the  innate  conviction  of  a  God.  We 
cannot  enter  into  the  reasonings,  or  rather  the  strenuous 
asseverations,  of  Fenelon  and  others  on  the  subject  of  what 
may  be  termed  an  instinctive  or  intuitive  theism.  We  think 
that  the  universality  of  the  notion,  and  the  want  of  all  sen- 
sible reasoning  which  could  have  led  to  it,  might  be  other- 
wise accounted  for;  and  that  the  account  is  just  to  be  found 
in  the  felt  supremacy  of  conscience.  Such  is  the  rapidity 
of  our  mental  processes  when  often  repeated  so  as  to  have 
become  familiar,  that  a  process  of  but  one  step,  though  in 
reality  an  inference,  may  well  pass  for  an  intuition ;  and 

VOL.  VII. — D 


74  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

thus  may  it  fare  with  man  when  he  reasons  from  his  con- 
science to  his  God.  The  transition  from  the  one  term  to 
the  other  may  have  been  too  quick  to  be  noticed  by  him ; 
and  thus  it  may  happen  that  what  he  really  sees  through 
the  medium  of  an  argument,  he  may  think  that  he  sees  by 
an  immediate  perception  of  the  mind.  We  speak  ambigu- 
ously on  the  subject,  as  we  should  like  to  do  of  everything 
that  is  either  too  distant  or  too  minute  for  observation.  I 
cannot  tell  of  the  infinitesimals  that  are  beyond  my  eye- 
sight, and  have  not  yet  been  brought  up  to  vision  by  micro- 
scopes of  greatest  power ;  and  yet  far  beneath  this  limit 
there  is  room  for  many  a  world  of  wonders,  of  which,  how- 
ever, it  is  my  soundest  philosophy  to  say  that  I  do  not  know, 
and  therefore  cannot  tell.  And  there  are  infinitesimals  in 
time  as  well  as  space,  among  which  I  am  unable  to  distin- 
guish between  the  instant  and  the  successive  ;  or  when  the 
question  is  of  mind  and  its  phenomena,  to  fetch  up  the  secrets 
which  lie  in  its  hidden  region  of  littles,  so  hidden  as  to  be  a 
region  of  invisibles — and  thus  tell  which  is  the  intuition,  or 
which  is  the  rapid  inference  that  fla&hed  with  lightning  speed 
from  premises  to  conclusion.  There  is  a  ne  plus  ultra  be- 
neath which,  or  on  the  other  side  of  which,  we  must  submit 
to  be  ignorant ;  and  therefore  though  we  will  not  deny,  we 
are  as  little^ willing  to  affirm,  that  man  has  an  intuitive  sense 
of  Deity — more  especially,  as  in  the  felt  supremacy  of  con- 
science we  are  presented  with  at  least  a  likely  explanation. 
Certainly  it  is  not  on  the  basis  of  any  mystical  intuitions — 
and  we  only  call  them  mystical  because  they  are  unknown 
— that  we  shall  seek  to  strengthen  any  theology  of  ours. 
All  our  preferences  are  for  the  definite  and  the  unquestion- 
able ;  and  with  the  rich  abundance  in  om-  possession  of  dis- 
tinct and  satisfactory  proofs  both  for  the  natural  and  the 
Christian  theology,  we  should  feel  it  unpardonable  if  we  led 
you  to  associate  with  either,  the  uncertainty  or  the  haze  of 
any  darkling  speculation.* 

*  Conscience  a  universal  faculty,  and  tlie  impression  of  a  God  equally  so  ? 
forming  a  valid  ground  for  holding  religious  converse  v?ith  men  all  the  vforldi 
over. — Rom.  ii.  14,  15 ;  Luke  xii,  57 ;  Acts  xxiv.  16-- 


INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  75 

7.  But  without  determining  this  question,  or  how  the 
notion  of  a  Deity  may  have  been  originated — whether  in 
the  shape  of  a  certainty,  or  a  conjecture,  or  even  of  a  bare 
conception — enough  for  our  purpose  now  that  this  notion 
exists,  be  it  the  fruit  of  an  intuition,  or  of  an  inference 
grounded  on  the  felt  stirrings  of  a  conscience  within  the 
heart.  If  in  the  form  of  a  certainty,  then  did  we  but  know 
the  will  of  God  as  well  as  His  being,  it  would  demand  our 
instant  obedience.  If  in  the  form  of  a  conjecture,  then,  let 
the  likelihoods  on  which  the  conjecture  is  founded  be  strong 
or  weak,  they  demand  an  instant  inquiry.  If  even  in  the 
least  and  lowest  form  of  an  imagination,  then — for  there  is 
what  may  be  called  a  moral  counterpart  to  the  mere  thought 
of  God — it  would  demand  our  solemn  and  serious  entertain- 
ment. To  the  thought  of  Him  alone,  and  that  in  all  the 
gradations  of  it  which  can  be  specified,  from  a  passing  fancy 
to  a  sure  and  settled  conviction,  there  is  a  certain  duteous 
response  by  the  mind,  which,  according  as  given  or  with- 
beM,  will  be  a  test  of  character,  serving  to  discriminate  be- 
tween the  natural  earnestness  of  one  man  on  the  subject, 
and  the  natural  indifFerency  or  dislike  of  another — between 
him  who  would  smother  or  dismiss  the  idea  on  the  moment 
of  its  presentation  before  him,  and  him  in  whom  it  awakened 
not  the  curiosity  alone,  but  the  heartfelt  desire  to  seek  after 
God,  if  haply  he  might  find  Him.  In  the  first  chapter  of 
the  Romans,  where  we  read  of  the  world's  declension  into 
the  lowest  depths  of  ungodliness,  one  of  the  charges  against 
our  degenerating  race  is,  that  they  liked  not  to  retain  God 
in  their  knowledge.  Now  it  is  the  very  same  charge,  for 
it  would  mark  the  same  essential  impiety,  if,  after  having 
lost  this  knowledge,  they  still  persist  in  Hking  not  to  recover 
it.  It  is  in  truth  the  very  same  phase  of  disposition  or 
character,  that  we  should  like  not  to  recover  God  to  our 
knowledge  as  that  we  should  like  not  to  retain  God  in  our 
knowledge.  Now  the  entertainment  we  give  to  the  mere 
notion  of  a  God  will,  in  the  eye  of  one  who  can  weigh  the 
secrets  of  all  spirits,  decide  whether  we  have  this  liking  or 
have  it  not.    In  other  words,  there  is  as  much  of  a  rudimental 


76  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  remaining  theology  in  the  world  as  to  make  all  men  the 
fit  subjects  of  a  moral  reckoning,  and  so  of  being  judicially 
dealt  with  for  their  treatment  of  God. 

8.  The  whole  spirit  of  ungodliness  might  be  exhibited  by 
one  who  knows  not  the  certainty  of  a  God,  simply  if  he  will 
not  attend  to  the  question  of  His  existence,  and  cares  not  to 
inquire  after  Him — ^just  as  there  might  be  the  very  essence 
of  ingratitude  in  my  treatment  of  the  anonymous  benefactor, 
who  by  his  secret  donation,  has  raised  me  from  deepest  in- 
digence, and  given  me  the  comfort  and  independence  of  a 
home,  while  I  take  no  step — and  that  because  I  have  no 
wish — to  ascertain  him.  It  is  precisely  thus  that  the  specific 
character  of  irreligion  might  be  exemplified  without  the 
evidences  of  religion  having  ever  been  studied  or  understood 
— if  not  by  my  haired  or  disobedience  of  the  God  whom  I 
know,  at  least  by  my  willing  ignorance  of  Him  whom  I  do 
not  know,  and  in  that  I  seek  not  and  aspire  not  after  the 
Being  who,  for  aught  that  I  can  tell,  has  called  me  forth 
from  the  chambers  of  nonentity,  and  given  me  place  and 
entertainment  in  the  territory  of  living  men.  This  principle 
carries  back  a  responsibility  even  to  the  confines  of  atheism 
— nay,  enters  within  its  limits,  and  subjects  to  an  account 
the  furthest  oflf  whether  in  darkness  or  in  skepticism,  for 
their  indifference  to  the  question  of  a  God.  It  does  not  tell 
them  that  in  the  absence  of  proofs  they  ought  to  have  be- 
lieved ;  but  it  does  tell  them,  that  with  the  likelihoods,  yea, 
with  but  the  possibilities  of  such  a  Being,  they  ought  to  have 
inquired.  There  lie  here  the  materials  for  a  reckoning 
which  might  be  carried  round  the  globe,  and  so  as  to  bring 
one  and  all  of  the  human  family  within  the  awards  of  a 
judgment-day.  It  is  well  to  know  how  far  in  the  region 
of  mental  alienation  from  God  the  challenging  power  of  re- 
ligion might  be  carried ;  and  most  satisfactory  to  understand, 
that  associated  even  with  the  faintest  glimmerings  through- 
out the  transient  thought  or  imagination  of  a  Deity,  there 
is  a  moral  force  which  should  tell  upon  all  consciences,  and 
lead  the  remotest  outcasts  of  our  species  to  look  and  long 
for  further  indications  of  Him. 


INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  17 

9.  And  if  this  be  true,  even  in  regard  to  the  credenda  of 
natural  religion,  it  is  still  more  palpably  true  of  the  Christian 
faith.  Though  we  should  have  no  right  to  demand  for  it 
the  instant  belief,  we  may  have  a  full  right  to  demand  for  it 
the  instant  attention  of  all  men.  It  may  not  on  the  first 
notice,  like  a  visible  object  seen  at  a  single  glance,  announce, 
and  all  at  once,  its  own  verity ;  but  such  may  be  its  veri- 
similitudes, such,  if  not  the  proofs,  may  at  least  be  the  pre- 
cognitions of  its  trueness,  as  to  challenge,  and  most  rightfully 
to  challenge,  our  prolonged  regards  to  it.  If  Christianity 
have  nothing  to  show  at  the  outset  which  entitles  it  to  bid 
our  summary  and  immediate  conviction,  this,  at  the  very 
least,  can  be  said  of  it,  that  it  shows  as  little,  w^e  think  in- 
finitely less,  to  justify  our  summary  rejection  of  it.  There 
is  such  an  aspect  of  credibility  as  fully  entitles  it  to  a  trial, 
and  enough  to  convict  us  of  moral  unfairness  if  the  trial  be 
not  given.  All  that  we  insist  upon  at  present  is  not  a 
favorable  verdict,  but  a  hearing ;  and  that  we  incur  the 
peril  of  an  ignorance  or  unbelief  which  might  be  ruinous  if 
the  hearing  is  not  bestowed  on  it.  Should  a  professed 
messenger  from  a  distant  friend  place  himself  before  you, 
then  the  more  creditable  the  whole  tone  and  bearing  of  the 
man,  the  greater  is  your  delinquency  if,  when  he  offers  to 
put  the  credentials  of  his  authenticity  into  your  hands,  you 
dismiss  him  from  your  presence  without  the  examination  of 
them.  And  it  is  precisely  thus  that,  anterior  to  all  exami- 
nation of  its  evidences,  we  might  incur  the  guilt  of  neglect 
or  contumely  towards  the  author  of  our  being,  just  by  our 
heedlessness,  and  still  more  by  our  premature  rejection  of  a 
professed  message  from  the  upper  sanctuary — and  that  not 
because  we  have  withstood  those  manifested  proofs  which 
should  have  led  us  to  believe,  but  because  long  prior  to  this 
we  have  withstood  those  incipient  premonitions  or  likeli- 
hoods of  its  truths  which  should  have  led  us  to  inquire. 

10.  And  we  may  here  advert  to  the  reasonings  of  Butler, 
who,  when  speaking  of  an  evidence  far  short  of  certainty, 
tells  us  that  probability  is  the  guide  of  life.  And  it  is  true 
that  in  the  prosecution  of  our  temporal  interests,  we  proceed 


78  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

not  on  the  certainty  of  an  attainment,  but  on  the  chance  of 
an  attainment — embarking,  for  example,  on  many  an  enter- 
prise, not  because  we  are  sure  of  its  object,  but  because,  if 
meeting  with  the  same  good  luck,  we  may  succeed  as  well 
as  some  who  have  gone  before  us.  There  is  often  true 
wisdom  in  this — whether  to  try  our  fortune  in  the  pursuit 
of  what  is  good,  or  to  escape  a  hazard  in  the  avoidance  of 
what  is  evil.  And  thus  he  tells  us,  that  though  we  had  but 
a  probability  on  the  side  of  religion,  it  is  our  highest  prudence 
to  act  as  if  it  were  absolutely  true — so  as  thereby  to  secure 
at  least  the  chance  of  a  blissful,  and  to  shun  the  risk  of  a 
wretched  eternity.  He,  it  is  to  be  observed,  insists  on  the 
prudence  of  thus  dealing  with  mere  probabilities ;  I  insist 
on  the  principle  of  thus  dealing  with  them.  He  on  the  peril 
we  incur  by  our  neglect  of  them ;  I  on  the  guilt  that  we 
incur  by  our  neglect  of  them.  It  is  true  that  by  neglecting 
these  probabilities  we  might  forfeit  the  good  of  our  eternity, 
but  not  unless  in  this  neglect  there  had  been  a  previous  de- 
serving of  the  forfeiture.  And  we  trust  to  have  made  it 
palpable  that  there  is  such  a  deserving — and  especially  in 
our  disregard  of  those  likelihoods  at  first  sight,  those  pre- 
sumptions however  slender,  those  j)rima  facie  evidences, 
which  however  slight  as  claims  on  our  belief,  should  have 
been  held  all-powerful  as  claims  or  calls  upon  our  attention. 
To  have  been-heedless  of  a  message,  even  with  the  faintest 
plausibility  of  its  being  sent  from  God,  is  in  a  measure  to 
have  been  heedless  of  God  Himself;  and  an  entertainment 
of  it  is  not  more  a  question  of  highest  interest  than  of  highest 
duty.  There  is  something  greatly  worse  than  folly  in  this 
reckless  unconcei'n  for  a  professed  if  at  all  a  likely  revelation 
from  heaven.  There  is  in  it  a  culpability  of  the  gravest 
sort — the  criminal  indifferency  of  man  to  his  Maker — the 
very  essence,  in  truth,  of  direct  and  daring  impiety. 

II.  It  will  now  be  understood  what  the  principle  is  on 
which  a  minister  has  a  rightful  claim  upon  the  attention, 
and  might,  ply  such  topics  as  would  give  him  a  powerful 
hold  over  the  popular  conscience,  and  that  in  his  very  first 
dealings  even  with  a  congregation  of  the  most  illiterate  and 


INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  79 

depraved  hearers.  For  each  has  the  feeling  of  a  judge 
within  the  heart,  who  tells  him  of  the  difference  between 
right  and  wrong ;  and  each  has  the  counterpart  apprehen- 
sion of  a  judge  over  him  who  takes  present  cognizance  of 
his  doings,  and  will  take  future  account  of  their  conformity 
with  this  law  in  the  heart  of  every  man  :  and  each  besides 
has  the  consciousness  of  his  own  innumerable  delinquencies 
from  the  rule  of  righteousness,  even  in  his  own  sense,  and 
according  to  his  own  standard  of  it;  and  on  such  ready- 
made  premises  as  these,  might  the  voice  of  a  preacher  from 
without,  re-echoed  to  by  the  voice  within,  awaken  amongst 
any  people  both  the  deepest  convictions  of  guilt,  and  the 
dread  anticipations  of  a  coming  vengeance.  It  is  not  nec- 
essary for  this  that  there  should  be  the  absolute  and  entire 
certainty  of  a  God :  it  is  enough  if  there  be  but  the  appre- 
hension of  a  God.  They  could  not  without  violence  to  the 
light  of  their  own  minds,  glimmering  and  dubious  as  it  is — 
they  could  not  stifle,  we  shall  not  say  their  own  belief,  but 
their  own  thoughts,  their  own  conceptions  of  a  judge  and 
of  a  judgment-day.  It  is  thus  that  at  the  very  outset  of  his 
ministrations,  will  a  bearer  of  the  gospel  message,  in  the 
popular  creed  and  popular  conscience  alone,  meet  with  a 
rudimental  theology  everywhere  that  should  respond  to  his 
first  appeals  and  first  arguments ;  and  on  this,  as  on  an 
initial  vantage-ground,  might  he  rear  and  carry  onward  his 
further  demonstrations  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  How 
it  is  that  he  finds  acceptance  for  these  it  will  be  our  part  to 
explain,  when  we  deliver  our  views  of  the  internal  evidence 
for  the  truth  of  Christianity.  Our  present  object  is  to  state 
what  the  considerations  are,  not  on  which  we  carry  the 
belief,  but  on  which  we  carry  the  attention  of  the  people, 
and  dispose  them  for  a  serious  entertainment  of  the  question. 
They  are  such  considerations  as  have  been  known  to  constrain 
and  solemnize  and  overawe  even  the  rudest  children  of  nature. 
It  is  enough  that  they  be  the  children  of  our  common  human- 
ity, that  they  might  be  fit  subjects  for  the  overtures  of  salva- 
tion— whether  brought  to  their  doors  by  clergymen  within, 
or  by  missionaries  beyond  the  limits  of  Christendom. 


80  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

12.  Bat  though  it  may  be  premature  to  enter  yet  on  the 
reasons  which  operate  even  in  the  mind  of  an  unlettered 
peasant,  when,  in  the  true  sense  and  significancy  of  the  term, 
he  becomes  a  Christian,  it  is  not  too  early  to  apprize  you  of 
this  as  a  sure  and  settled  principle — that  no  man,  whether 
learned  or  unlearned,  can  have  the  faith  which  makes  him 
a  Christian,  without  having  a  reason  for  the  faith.  We  hear 
of  a  popular  and  also  of  a  hereditary  faith  ;  but  really  with- 
out evidence  it  is  no  faith  at  all.  It  may  be  fancy ;  but  we 
will  not  admit  it  to  be  belief,  nor  will  we  recognize  him 
who  ow^ns  it  as  a  believer,  unless  it  be  a  belief  grounded  on 
evidence;  and  we  know  not  a  more  interesting  question  for 
students  of  theology,  the  future  guides  and  instructors  of 
our  country's  population,  than  what  that  evidence  can  be 
which  determines,  and  rightfully  determines,  an  ordinary 
■workman  to  receive  his  Bible  as  a  true  and  authoritative 
message  from  God.  It  is  not  the  historical  evidence  ;  and 
the  question  is,  what  other  evidence  there  is  distinct  from 
this  and  distinct  also  from  many  other  proofs  which  receive 
a  literary  and  argumentative  treatment — whether  in  author- 
ship or  in  the  halls  of  theology — and  which  tells  on  the 
understandings  of  the  common  people  at  that  great  mental 
transition  which  all  those  men  undergo  who  pass  out  of 
darkness  into  the  marvelous  light  of  the  gospel  ?  Our  only 
reply  at  present  is — that  there  is  such  an  evidence,  and 
that  without  it  there  may  be  a  semblance  or  profession  of 
the  faith ;  but  not  the  reality  of  that  faith  which  is  unto 
salvation.* 

13,  But  recalling  ourselves  from  this  ulterior  part  of  the 
course,  and  coming  back  on  natural  theology,  we  cannot, 
though  still  engaged  with  the  premonitions  only  rather  than 
with  the  proofs  for  a  God — yet,  even  at  this  rudimental 
stage  of  our  argument,  we  cannot  take  even  a  temporary 
leave  of  this  great  phenomenon — the  supremacy  of  con- 
science, without  telling  you  how  much  more  it  is  than  a 

*  No  people  so  far  back  in  ignorance  and  apathy  as  not  to  be  responsible 
for  the  entertainment  they  give  either  to  the  denunciations  of  God's  law  or 
the  invitations  of  His  gospel. — Rom.  i.  14;  2  Cor.  ii.  14-16  ;  Heb.  xii.  25. 


INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  81 

premonition ;  and  that  it  is  indeed  a  proof,  the  strongest,  we 
think,  within  the  reach  or  compass  of  the  light  of  nature. 
It  is  undoubtedly  the  most  influential  of  all  the  natural  argu- 
ments, and  the  one  to  which  we  are  most  indebted  for  the 
existence  of  a  popular  theology  in  the  world.  That  in  every 
single  specimen  of  our  race  there  should  be  a  faculty  which 
claims  to  be  the  guide  and  superior  of  all  our  actions — that 
this  faculty  should  announce  to  each  of  us,  and  with  a  voice 
of  authority,  what  we  ought  and  what  w^e  ought  not  to  do 
— that  the  reward  of  a  present  complacency  should  be 
distinctly  felt  in  every  bosom  in  obedience  to  its  dictates, 
and  that  as  distinct  a  present  remorse  should  follow  the 
violation  of  these,  suggesting  thereby  the  fancy  or  the  fear 
of  a  coming  vengeance — there  is  something  in  all  this  which 
powerfully  speaks  both  to  the  being  and  character  of  a  God, 
which  tells  of  a  living  artificer  for  this  moral  mechanism  of 
ours,^  and  who  has  imprinted  on  it  the  traces  both  of  His 
love  for  righteousness,  and  of  His  hatred  for  iniqaity. 

14.  And  here  we  would  remind  you  of  Bishop  Butler's 
admirable  illustration,  when  he  makes  use  of  the  analogy 
between  the  function  of  conscience  in  a  man,  and  of  the 
regulator  in  a  watch — arguing  of  the  one  that,  if  it  proves 
a  maker,  whose  design  it  was  that  the  watch  should  move 
regularly ;  then,  by  parity  of  reasoning,  that  the  other 
proves  a  maker  also,  whose  design  it  was  that  the  man 
should  walk  conscientiously.  And  the  argument  may  be 
obscured,  but  it  is  not  wholly  obliterated,  by  some  posterior 
derangement  which  either  the  material  or  the  moral  ma- 
chinery may  chance  to  have  undergone  ;  and  in  virtue  of 
which  the  regulator  may  have  lost  its  control  over  the 
movements  of  the  watch,  or  the  conscience  may  have  lost 
its  power  of  command  and  direction  over  the  devices  and 
doings  of  the  man.  Still  the  design  of  the  original  forma- 
tion might  be  apparent  in  each  of  them,  so  that  we  might 
distinguish  in  both  between  the  first  structure  and  the  con- 
sequent aberrations  which  they  had  respectively  undergone. 
We  might  still  see,  both  from  the  position  of  the  regulator 
and  its  obvious  bearing  on  the  other  parts  of  the  apparatus, 


82  .  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

that  it  was  inserted  in  the  place  it  occupies  for  regulating 
the  force  of  the  instrument,  and  causing  it  to  keep  time ; 
and  it  might  be  alike  obvious,  from  the  very  office  assigned 
to  conscience — that  of  telling  him  in  v^hose  bosom  it  was 
inserted,  what  he  ought  to  be  and  to  do — that  it  was  placed 
there  for  the  express  purpose  of  keeping  him  in  the  walk 
of  duty.  By  a  stress  on  the  one,  the  regulator  may  no 
longer  retain  its  efficacy ;  by  a  perverting  influence  on  the 
other,  the  conscience,  though  still  the  rightful,  may  no  longer 
be  the  real  sovereign — yet,  though  overborne  in  the  anarchy 
and  insurrection  of  the  lower  powers,  does  it  nevertheless 
send  forth  a  reclaiming  and  remonstrating  voice  that  be- 
speaks the  high  original  from  which  it  has  fallen.  We  will 
not  dwell  on  the  striking  accordancy  between  this  phe- 
nomenon of  our  moral  nature,  and  the  record  which  has 
been  handed  down  to  us,  both  of  the  first  estate  in  which 
man  was  created,  and  his  subsequent  degeneracy  therefrom. 
We  are  not  yet  drawing  on  revelation ;  but,  looking  apart 
from  its  lessons  altogether,  would  view  the  supremacy  of 
conscience  in  the  light  of  a  mere  fact  or  finding  on  the 
territory  of  human  experience ;  and  there  is  none  within  the 
whole  range  of  it  which  we  not  only  say  more  promptly 
and  powerfully  suggests,  but  none  which  more  authorita- 
tively sanctions  the  idea  of  a  God. 

15.  Before  we  proceed  to  enter  at  full  length  on  the 
proofs  for  a  Deity,  let  me  remark  a  singular  advantage 
which  we  conceive  ourselves  entitled  to  claim  at  the  very 
outset  of  our  inquiries — grounded  on  a  principle  quite 
familiar  to  those  who  are  at  all  intelligent  or  expert  in 
argument — we  mean  the  difficulty  of  establishing  a  negative, 
when  put  in  that  form  which  demands  an  extended  survey 
over  some  certain  amount  of  space  or  time  ere  we  can  make 
it  good.  There  is  no  doubt  a  way  of  so  restricting  or  limit- 
ing the  negative  proposition  as  would  put  an  end  to  aught 
of  peculiar  difficulty.  But  let  us  have  recourse  to  examples. 
It  might  be  affirmed  of  a  certain  individual,  that  yesterday, 
and  at  a  given  place,  he  did  perform  a  benevolent  action. 
This  is  an  affirmative  proposition,  and  if  true,  it  were  easy, 


INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  83 

with  the  advantage  of  such  specific  circumstances,  to  lead 
proof  for  establishing  the  truth  of  it.  But  in  precise  coun- 
terpart to  this,  the  negative  proposition  might  be  offered, 
that  at  that  time  and  in  that  place  he  did  not  perform  the 
benevolent  action.  Why,  if  aided  by  these  specifications, 
it  might  be  as  easy  to  make  good  this  proposition  as  the 
former ;  but  let  us  dismiss  the  specifications,  or  at  least  let 
us  very  much  widen  and  enlarge  them,  and  then  observe 
the  effect.  Let  the  proposition  now  be,  that  last  year  he 
performed  a  benevolent  action.  This  is  an  affirmative ; 
and  if  he  who  hazards  it  has  ground  for  the  assertion,  he 
will  soon  come  at  the  particulars  by  which  to  make  it  good 
— as  the  person  who  was  the  object  of  the  charity  in  ques- 
tion, the  house  perhaps  wherein  the  act  of  kindness  was 
rendered,  the  witnesses  who  can  vouch  for  its  reality.  Let 
us  now  try  a  negative  proposition  of  the  same  range,  and 
say  that  iie  did  not  perform  a  benevolent  action  all  last 
year.  Only  think,  in  the  absence  of  the  alone  competent 
testimony,  which  is  his  own,  how  difficult,  if  indeed  not  im- 
possible, it  were  to  make  out  the  proposition.  Why,  for 
this  purpose  you  would  need  to  track  his  whole  history  for 
a  twelvemonth,  and  that  some  one  should  have  kept  by  him, 
and  haunted  all  his  footsteps,  and  kept  an  eye  upon  all  his 
outgoings,  and  taken  account  of  every  movement,  and  not 
for  a  single  day  or  hour  or  moment  intermitted  his  close 
and  constant  espionage.  This  is  one  instance,  and  it  is  akin 
with  all  others,  of  the  difficulty  which  there  is  in  establish- 
ing a  negative.  And  you  may  see  how  the  difficulty  could 
be  many-fold  aggravated  by  generalizing  the  negative  still 
more — as  if,  instead  of  saying  that  he  had  not  performed  a 
benevolent  action  all  last  year,  we  should  say  that  he  had 
not  done  so  during  the  whole  of  his  lifetime.  Why,  it 
would  just  require  that  the  vigilance  which  it  were  most 
difficult  to  keep  up  even  for  a  single  day,  and  which  were 
brought  to  the  verge  of  impossibility  if  it  had  to  be  main- 
tained throughout  a  year — that  it  should  be  still  farther 
extended  to  a  whole  generation.  It  were  plainly  imprac- 
ticable. 


84  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

16.  But  let  me  give  an  example  which  involves  the  ele- 
ment of  space,  as  the  other  did  the  element  of  time.  Let 
us  conceive  that  in  a  certain  island  recently  discovered,  and 
yet  most  imperfectly  knov^rn,  the  affirmation  was  made  by 
one  of  its  visitors  and  explorers  to  his  fellows,  that  there 
was  a  crater  within  its  limits,  bearing  every  appearance  of 
an  ancient  though  now  extinct  volcano.  If  he  spoke  know- 
ingly and  truly,  he  would  be  at  no  loss  to  establish  this 
positive  averment — his  proofs  being  concentered  on  a  given 
spot,  to  which  he  could  guide  his  companions.  But,  instead 
of  this,  let  the  negative  proposition  be  ventured,  that  there 
was  no  such  crater,  and  not  the  vestige  of  one  in  the  island 
— it  is  not  by  the  mere  visit  of  one  locality,  as  in  the  former 
case,  but  by  a  search  and  entry  upon  all  the  localities,  that 
the  proposition  could  be  disposed  of,  by  either  being  verified 
or  disproved.  It  must  be  obvious  to  you,  that  the  difficulty 
is  just  in  proportion  to  the  largeness  of  the  subject  over 
which  this  said  negative  proposition  is  made  to  extend. 
Had  the  island  been  twice  as  large,  it  would  just  require 
twice  the  labour  to  make  good  the  negative  which  had  been 
uttered  regarding  it.  Had  it  been  the  size  of  our  own 
Britain,  it  would  have  required  an  enormous  survey  to 
make  good  the  denial  of  any  crater  being  to  be  found 
within  its  borders ;  and  you  can  easily  imagine  such  an 
enlargement  of  the  territory,  that  to  substantiate  the  same 
proposition  throughout  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  it, 
would,  for  the  mere  induction  of  the  requisite  and  indis- 
pensable evidence,  have  baffled  the  attempts  of  the  whole 
species  for  many  generations. 

17.  You  will  now  understand  the  tremendous  presumption 
of  him  who  could  venture  on  the  negative  proposition,  and 
so  as  with  all  the  confidence  of  one  who  had  ascertained  it, 
to  say  that  there  is  no  God.  There  is  all  the  difference  of 
infinity  between  the  affirmative  and  the  negative  proposition 
on  this  question.  If  a  God  there  be.  He  might  imprint  the 
signatures  of  His  existence  on  some  hand-breadth  portion 
of  the  immensity  which  He  fills  ;  and  we  discover  that  He 
is,  on  some  piece  of  exquisite  v^^orkmanship  that  lies  on  little 


INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  g5 

room  before  us,  as  on  a  single  leaf  of  the  myriads  that  wave 
innumerable  in  the  forest,  or  in  the  structure  of  a  single  eye, 
which  condenses  more  of  evidence  for  design  than  we  at 
least  can  descry  on  the  broad  face  of  the  heavens  above  our 
head,  or  in  the  construction  of  a  whole  planetarium.  Nay, 
more  impressively  still,  if  there  is  a  God  indeed.  He  might 
deposit  a  conscience  in  every  bosom,  and  so  plant  the  lesson 
of  His  reality  within  the  narrow  homestead  of  one's  own 
thoughts.  But  only  think  of  the  mighty  travels  which  that 
spirit  must  go  through,  who  shall  be  entitled  to  proclaim 
that  a  God  is  not.  He  must  describe  all  space.  He  must 
explore  the  records  of  all  ages.  He  must  light  on  every 
world,  and  after  having  made  search  and  entrance  in  one 
and  all  the  chambers  of  immensity — after  having  compassed 
and  become  the  master  of  all  time  and  all  truth  and  all 
nature,  then,  and  then  only,  is  he  able  to  tell  that  throughout 
all  the  amplitudes  and  all  the  recesses  of  a  universe  which 
he  had  thoroughly  examined,  the  traces  of  a  God  were  no- 
where to  be  found. 

18.  You  will  now  see  the  difference  between  two  things 
which  have  never  been  sufficiently  distinguished  from  each 
other — atheism  and  antitheism.  The  proper  opposites  to 
each  other  on  the  question  of  a  God  are  theism  and  anti- 
theism,  held  respectively  by  those  who  believe  in  the  ex- 
istence of  a  Deity  and  those  who  deny  it.  Atheism,  rightly 
understood,  stands  in  the  position  of  neutrality  between 
these  antagonists.  It  is  an  unbeliever,  whereas  antitheism 
is  a  disbeliever.  The  one  refuses  the  doctrine  of  a  God, 
because  of  the  want  of  proof  for  His  existence.  The  other 
does  more  than  refuse — it  resists  the  doctrine  of  a  God ;  but 
to  be  justified  in  this,  it  should  be  able  to  allege  the  proofs 
which  it  has  gathered  against  His  existence.  Atheism  is  a 
blank  negation,  and  nothing  more  ;  and  for  the  mind  to  be 
left  in  this  state,  it  is  enough  that  the  arguments  for  a  God 
should  make  no  impression  on  it.  Antitheism,  again,  is  a 
strenuous  and  resolved  adversary ;  though  for  the  mind  to 
be  put  into  this  state,  it  should  first  have  confidently  ascer- 
tained that  there  is  no  God.  Atheism  refuses  to  affirm  that 
there  is  a  God  ;  but  neither  will  it  deny  Him— it  being  the 


86  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

midway  and  ambiguous  state  of  pure  skepticism.  But  there 
is  nothing  skeptical  in  antitheism — for  while  atheism,  though 
it  complains  of  the  lack  of  evidence,  can  yet  affirm  that  a 
God  may  be ;  antitheism,  as  if  it  not  had  only  repelled  the 
positive  but  established  the  negative  on  this  question,  lifts  the 
confident,  dogmatic  assertion  that  God  is  not.  We  have 
already  said  enough  to  expose  the  monstrous  pretensions  of 
this  dogmatism,  and  how  both  sound  logic  and  sound  ex- 
perience alike  reclaim  against  it. 

19.  One  can  imagine  the  proofs  for  a  God  being  less  and 
less  satisfactory  to  various  minds,  which  we  may  conceive 
placed  in  receding  order  till  we  have  reached  the  point  of 
atheism.  We  could  recede  no  further  back  without  enter- 
ing on  the  region  of  antitheism ;  a  position  this  utterly  in- 
competent to  every  limited  creatui-e,  barred  as  he  is  from 
it  by  the  impossibility  of  establishing  a  negative  on  the 
question  of  a  God.  All  reason  and  philosophy  therefore 
will  agree  in  this,  that  there  is  a  ne  plus  ultra  in  that  direc- 
tion ;  so  that  the  greatest  point  of  remoteness  from  belief 
in  a  God  which  any,  whether  of  loftiest  or  most  limited  in- 
tellect, can  assume,  unless  resolved  on  the  abjuration  of 
intellect  altogether,  is  that  of  blank  and  negative  atheism. 
Our  first  converse  then  might  be  held  with  the  occupiers  of 
this  ground,  for  antitheism  and  antitheists  we  may  well 
now  give  up  as  sufficiently  and  fully  disposed  of.  One 
might  understand  such  a  lack  of  all  impression  from  the 
argument  for  a  God,  as  to  admit  the  possibility  of  atheism. 
But  it  does  give  a  singularly  advantageous  outset  to  our 
reasoning  on  this  question,  its  being  so  clearly  made  out 
that  aught  beyond  this  is  really  impossible;  and  that  a  man 
cannot  profess  to  be  farther  gone  in  his  infidelity  than 
atheism,  but  by  a  violent  outrage  and  transgression  of  every 
principle  of  evidence. 

20.  But  previous  to  all  argumentative  dealing  with  him, 
let  it  be  observed,  that  if,  on  the  one  hand,  our  antagonist 
can  go  no  farther  back  than  to  the  atheism  on  which  he  is 
posted,  we,  on  the  other  hand,  can  carry  as  far  back  the 
power  and  urgency  of  those  moral  calls  and  moral  con- 
siderations, on  which  we  have  been  demanding  the  earn- 


INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  87 

est,  solemn,  and  respectful  attention  of  all,  to  the  question 
of  a  God.  The  voice  of  demand  and  remonstrance  which 
we  have  lifted  on  this  subject  reaches  even  to  the  atheist. 
He  may  not  have  even  in  its  slightest  degree  the  convic- 
tion of  a  God.  But  enough  for  our  initial  treatment  of  him 
that  he  has  the  conception  of  a  God.  He  knows  what  is 
meant  by  the  utterance  of  His  name.  The  possibility  of 
His  existence  he  cannot  deny,  without  incurring  all  that  de- 
linquency of  understanding  which  is  implied  in  antitheism, 
He  may  allege  the  want  of  proof  that  a  God  there  is  ;  but 
for  aught  he  can  tell,  a  God  may  be ;  and  he  incurs  a  de- 
linquency of  heart  if  the  thought  of  God,  even  in  this  incip- 
ient form,  have  entered  his  mind,  and  been  present  there 
without  an  effort  or  a  wish  to  ascertain  Him.  We  are  not 
asking  belief  without  evidence  at  his  hands.  We  only  ask 
him  to  look  our  way,  and  not  shut  his  eyes — or  listen  to 
the  advocacy  of  a  God,  and  not  shut  his  ears.  The  call 
surely  is  imperative  thus  far,  and  ought  at  least  to  evoke 
atheism  from  the  fastness  which  it  occupies.  And  if  it  do 
not— if  its  reckless  and  unfaltering  disciple,  resolute  in  his 
adherence  to  the  infidelity  which  he  loves,  refuse  to  cast  a 
persevering  regard  towards  the  quarter  in  which,  if  any- 
where, a  God  is  to  be  found — if  he  will  thus  brave  all  the 
hazards  of  willful  ignorance  on  a  question  which,  for  aught 
he  knows,  involves  the  relation  wherein  he  is  to  stand  for 
ever  with  the  first  Parent  and  greatest  power  of  the  uni- 
verse ; — then  whatever  be  the  obscuration  which  now  rests 
on  this  first  and  greatest  object  in  theology,  atheist  though 
he  be,  its  corresponding  ethics  are  at  play — telling  him  of 
obligations  which  it  is  his  duty  to  perform,  and  which  it 
will  be  at  his  peril  to  violate ;  and  making  it  clear,  even  to 
his  own  conscience,  that  there  is  a  guilt  of  the  same  spe- 
cies resting  upon  him,  who  cares  not  to  know  of  a  yet  un- 
certain God — as  on  him,  who,  in  the  presence  of  a  mani- 
fested Deity,  could  trample  on  his  sovereignty,  or  bid  in- 
sulting defiance  to  the  mandates  which  had  issued  from 
His  throne. 

21.  Our  present  argument  involves  in  it  the  principles 
on  which  might  be  vindicated  the  religious  education  both 


88  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

of  the  children  in  a  family,  and  of  the  general  peasantry  in 
a  land.  In  beginning  with  either,  we  shall  of  course  find 
a  great  destitution  of  knowledge,  and  of  that  only  belief 
which  deserves  the  name— a  belief  grounded  upon  evi- 
dence. Yet  in  the  minds  of  both  there  is  what  may  be 
termed  a  sufficient  elementary  preparation  for  the  com- 
mencement of  our  efForts-^-a  sort  of  natural  rudiments  an- 
terior to  our  very  first  lessons,  and  preparing  the  way  for 
them.  There  may  beforehand  be  indefinitely  little  of  re- 
ligious knowledge,  and  yet  enough  within  them  by  which 
to  test  and  to  evoke  the  religious  character  or  disposition 
when  the  oflfer  of  this  knowledge  is  first  given  to  them,  so 
as  to  constitute  them,  even  at  this  initial  stage,  the  fit  sub- 
jects of  a  moral  and  judicial  cognizance.  However  inca- 
pable a  child  may  be  of  dealing  argumentatively  with  the 
question,  he  is  abundantly  capable,  and  at  the  first  dawn 
of  his  understanding,  to  conceive  of  God  ;  and  giving  forth 
a  duteous  response  of  right  and  appropriate  feeling,  to  be 
solemnized  by  the  idea  of  Him.  This  shows  itself  in  very 
early  life  ;  and  from  that  moment  there  is  room  and  reason 
for  a  religious  discipline.  Not  that  there  is  yet  enough 
of  light  in  the  embryo  intellect  by  which  to  estimate  the 
proofs  either  for  a  God  or  for  a  Bible,  but  enough  of  light 
in  the  embryo  conscience  by  which  to  challenge  its  earn- 
est, docile  reverence  for  these,  when  the  light  of  the  pa- 
rental mind  is  brought  to  bear  upon  it.  It  is  true  that  it  is 
only  in  its  own  light  that  it  can  apprehend  or  judge  or  be- 
lieve. But  previous,  and  it  may  be  long  previous  to  this, 
may  it  both  feel  and  give  way  to  the  obligation  of  attending 
and  considering  and  dwelling  upon  the  thing  set  before  it 
in  the  light  of  another — and  of  giving  earnest  heed  thereunto 
till  the  day  dawn  and  the  day-star  arise  in  its  own  heart. 
It  is  this  precedency  of  the  moral  to  the  intellectual,  and 
this  direction  or  charge  which  the  one  rightfully  takes  of 
the  other,  that  rationalizes,  if  we  may  so  express  it,  the 
whole  business  of  religious  education;  and  it  is  on  this  prin- 
ciple that  we  should  meet  the  invectives  of  those  who,  to 
philosophize  the  process,  would  wait  the  development  of 
full-grown  faculties,  and  meanwhile  withhold  the  lessons  of 


INITIAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  89 

this  sacred  scholarship  altogether — a  system  on  which  re- 
ligion and  all  its  blessings  would  speedily  disappear  from 
the  land. 

22.  And  the  same  neglect  and  abandonment  which  would 
prove  ruinous  in  a  family,  would  also  prove  ruinous  through- 
out a  country  at  large.  If  the  moral  exigencies  of  a  house- 
hold demand  the  parental  rule  for  which  we  are  contending, 
no  less  do  the  moral  exigencies  of  a  nation  demand  what 
many  would  stigmatize  as  a  priestly  rule;  but  which  is  just 
that  guidance  of  a  population  by  the  ministers  of  Christianity 
in  the  ways  of  truth  and  wisdom,  whereby  men  are  con- 
ducted to  all  the  blessings  of  order  and  prosperity  in  the 
life  that  now  is,  and  to  the  higher  blessings  of  a  glorious 
immortality  in  the  life  that  is  to  come.  Doubtless,  there  is 
a  certain  authority  implied  in  such  a  regimen  as  this,  if  by 
authority  be  meant  the  constraining  influence  of  a  call  on 
the  attention  of  the  people  to  a  subject,  by  the  proofs  of 
which  their  understandings  have  not  yet  been  convinced  or 
enlightened.  But  there  is  no  infringement  of  liberty  in  such 
constraint,  when  it  is  the  constraint  of  their  own  consciences ; 
or  if,  when  the  Sabbath  bell  summons  their  attendance  on 
the  lessons  of  religion,  they  yield  it  obedience  under  the 
feeling  and  impulse  of  their  own  sense  of  obligation.  The 
discipline  of  a  parish  and  the  discipline  of  a  family  can  both 
be  vindicated  on  the  same  principles.  In  neither  can  the 
conviction  be  made  to  outrun  the  evidence;  but  in  both  the 
attention  beforehand  must  be  effectually  challenged  and 
enlisted,  else  no  conviction  will  follow.  And  for  this,  God 
hath  opened  a  way  for  His  own  messengers,  and  so  as  to 
provide  them  with  an  introduction  to  the  hearts  even  of  the 
most  profligate  and  unlettered  peasantry  on  earth.  He  has 
not  left  Himself  without  the  vouchers  of  His  own  reality, 
in  the  innermost  recesses  of  their  moral  nature — insomuch 
that  if  the  voice  lifted  in  their  hearing  do  not  awaken  them 
from  the  lethargy  of  their  deep  irreligion,  there  is  enough 
in  the  high  argument  wherewith  it  was  charged,  to  supply 
the  materials  of  their  most  righteous  and  everlasting  con- 
demnation. 


BOOK  II. 
NATURAL  THEOLOGY. 

CHAPTER  L 

PROOFS  FROM  EXTERNAL  NATURE  FOR  THE  BEING  OF  A  GOD. 

1.  We  do  not  stop  to  consider  those  arguments  for  the 
Divine  existence,  which,  however  extolled  and  valued  in 
their  day,  have  since  not  only  met,  what  appears  to  us, 
with  a  solid  and  conclusive  refutation,  but  have  been  set 
aside  by  general  consent  as  baseless  and  unsatisfactory. 
Some  of  these  reasonings,  however,  still  deserve  to  be 
s.tudied,  if  for  nothing  more  than  because  they  are  at  once 
specimens  and  products  of  high  talent — not  however  as 
belonging  any  longer  to  the  subject  of  theology,  but  only 
as  belonging  to  the  literature  of  the  subject,  though  that 
part  of  it  which  has  now  gone  by.  The  first  and  foremost 
of  these  specimens  is  the  famous  a  priori  argument  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Clarke,  which,  along  with  the  consideration  where- 
by it  has  been  finally  disposed  of,  is  altogether  worthy  of 
being  mastered — even  though  the  whole  fruit  of  the  con- 
quest and  acquis-ition  should  be  the  discovery  of  wherein 
it  is  that  its  real  weakness  as  well  as  its  great  apparent 
strength  lies.  If  by  such  an  effort  we  do  not  build  up  the 
science  of  theology,  we  may  at  least  throw  light  upon  its 
history,  and  obtain  a  view  of  that  which  in  itself  is  abun- 
dantly interesting — the  genius  of  speculation  and  philoso- 
phy in  olden  times. 

2.  But  besides  this,  there  is  another  class  of  arguments 
which  we  feel  equally  inclined  to  discard.  Besides  the  a 
priori  there  is  a  certain  a  posteriori  style  of  reasoning, 
which  to  our  apprehension,  is  alike  invalid  and  meaningless 
with  the  former.     It  begins  with  matter  as  an  effect,  and 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  91 

would  thence  reason  upwards  to  a  cause  or  maker  for  it. 
But  then  it  views  matter  not  in  its  beneficial  adaptations, 
not  in  the  obvious  utilities  to  which  it  is  subservient,  not  in 
any  of  those  goodly  arrangements  which  bespeak  design, 
and  so  a  designer ;  but  it  views  matter  barely  as  existing, 
and  from  this  property  alone  would  it  infer  an  antecedent 
mind  which  had  summoned  it  out  of  nothing.  To  make 
this  good,  it  tells  us  that  eternity  is  incompetent  of  matter 
— for  had  matter  been  from  everlasting,  no  adequate  cause 
can  be  given,  no  sufficiens  causa  why  matter  should  not  be 
here  as  well  as  there,  or  why  all  space  should  not  be  equal- 
ly filled  by  it ;  and  so,  because  all  space  is  not  so  filled  by 
it,  matter  must  have  had  a  beginning,  or  must  have  been 
created.  It  is  not  necessary  that  matter  should  be  organ- 
ized or  ordered  in  any  certain  way  to  furnish  these  reason- 
ers  with  their  argument  for  a  God.  It  is  enough  that  mat- 
ter but  exist ;  and  so  on  this  very  general  property,  that  of 
mere  entity  or  being,  do  these  scholastics  found  their  in- 
ference of  a  God.  This  property  of  existence  is  indeed  a 
very  general  one— insomuch  that  it  can  not  be  claimed  as 
the  special  or  exclusive  object  of  any  of  the  other  sciences, 
and  must  therefore  fall  within  the  province  of  metaphysics, 
which,  agreeably  to  our  definition,  takes  cognizance  of 
those  higher  and  larger  generalities  that  are  suggested  by 
the  comparison  of  the  sciences  with  each  other.  The 
property  of  existence  is  quite  one  of  these  larger  generali- 
ties— entity — a  property  which  belongs  not  to  the  objects 
of  one  science  alone,  but  is  shared  in  common  by  the  ob- 
jects of  far  the  greater  number  of  the  sciences.  This  entity, 
then,  has  no  ordinary  claim  to  be  viewed  as  a  metaphysical 
property ;  and  the  reasoning  founded  on  it  is  eminently 
metaphysical.  We  say  once  for  all  now,  what  we  have 
said  at  greater  length  elsewhere,  when  treating  on  the 
metaphysics  of  theism,  that  it  is  a  reasoning  which  makes 
no  impression  whatever  on  our  understanding ;  and  tak- 
ing our  final  leave,  therefore,  of  all  such  arguments,  let 
us  now  cast  about  and  see,  whether  somewhere  within 
the    limits   of  sense  and   experience,  there  be  not  some 


92  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

firmer  stepping-stone  and  surer   pathway  to   the   knowl- 
edge of  a  God.* 

3.  It  is  coming  down  from  this  obscure  and  lofty  trans- 
cendentalism when  we  pass  onward  from  entity,  common 
to  all  being,  to  the  other  and  more  special  properties  of 
matter,  which  form  its  constitution  and  its  laws.  We  often 
hear  of  the  wisdom  of  nature-s  laws ;  and  it  may  be  well 
thought,  therefore,  that  in  the  consideration  of  these,  we 
shall  meet  with  more  of  solid  and  intelligible  argument 
than  heretofore  in  favor  of  a  Deity.  And  yet  it  will  be 
found  that  it  is  not  in  these  either,  not  in  the  mere  laws  or 
powers  or  properties  of  matter,  where  the  main  strength 
of  the  reasoning  lies.  The  truth  is,  that  grant  but  the  ex- 
istence of  matter— and  We  see  nothing  in  the  metaphysical 
argumentation  grounded  upon  this  as  its  alone  element, 
whence  we  can  clearly  or  conclusively  infer  a  God — but 
only  imagine  it  to  exist,  and  it  were  difficult,  nay  impossi- 
ble, to  imagine  that,  along  with  existence,  it  should  not 
have  properties  of  some  kind  or  other.  The  bare  circum- 
stance of  matter  having  those  adjuncts  which  are  common- 
ly termed  properties,  will  scarcely,  if  at  all,  advance  our 
argument  for  a  God.  And  what  is  most  decisive  of  this  is, 
that  without  something  else  done  to  matter  than  endowing 
it  with  its  present  and  actual  laws^and  on  which  some- 
thing we  shall  found  the  main  reasonings  of  this  chapter — 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  raise  an  orderly  universe 
out  of  a  chaos;  and  what  is  more,  take  that  something 
away  from  matter,  leaving  to  it  all  its  laws,  and  the  uni- 
verse with  its  goodly  arrangements  would  lapse  again 
into  a  chaos,  or  heaving  mass  of  turbulence  and  disorder. 
To  illustrate  our  meaning  by  examples.  The  law  of  im- 
pulse is  a  law;  but  the  fact  that  all  the  planets  have 
received  an  impulse  in  oiie  direction,  and  in  virtue  of 
which  they  do  not  fall  to  the  sun,  but  are  kept  out  in  the 
circumferences  of  their  respective  orbits  around  him — that 
is  not  a  law  but  a  disp6sition,  and  though  it  were  put  an 

*  We  have  no  confidence  either  in  Dr.  Samuel  Clarke's,  or  in  any  other  of  the 
later  a  priori  arguments  for  the  being  of  a  God. — Rom.  i.  19,  20;  Heb.  xi.  3. 


-  NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  93 

end  to,  the  law  of  impulse  would  remain  precisely  as  before. 
And-  so  the  law  of  digestion  in  the  animal  economy  is  a  law ; 
but  the  placing  of  the  gastric  juice  in  the  stomach,  or  of 
teeth  for  the  previous  and  necessary  mastication  of  the  food 
in  its  passage  downward  to  this  receptacle,  or  of  the  innu- 
merable vessels  for  the  secretion  of  that  saliva  which  acts 
upon  it  as  a  solvent  to  facilitate  the  result,  the  various 
piacings  of  these  in  their  several  localities  are  not  laws  but 
dispositions.  In  Uke  manner  the  law  of  refraction  in  optics 
is  a  law;  but  the  situations  and  forms  of  the  different  hu- 
mors in  the  eye,  the  muscles  wherewith  it  is  beset,  and 
which  regulate  the  distance  at  which  the  pencils  of  refract- 
ed light  converge  into  a  point,  at  this  very  distance  behind 
a  canvas  named  the  retina,  and  on  which  in  consequence 
the  images  of  external  objects  are  formed — these  are  not 
laws  but  dispositions,  and  without  which  the  laws  them- 
selves could  never  have  brought  about  any  of  the  fulfill- 
ments which  are  now  specified.  Such  dispositions  are 
innumerable.  Every  animal  and  every  vegetable  structure 
teems  with  them.  Among  the  first  that  occur,  let  me  in- 
stance the  eye-lashes,  of  the  greatest  use  where  they  are 
placed,  and  which  could  be  nowhere  else,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  this  delicate  organ  ;  and  the  nails,  in  the  very 
position  where  they  are  most  serviceable,  instead  of  being 
protruded  as  useless  excrescences  on  other  parts  of  the 
body  ;  and  the  thumb,  in  relation  to  its  counterpart  fingers 
for  the  purposes  of  holding ;  and  the  cutters  and  grinders, 
which  were  they  to  change  places,  would  be  far  less  com- 
modious for  the  act  of  eating;  and  a  countless  host  of  other 
collocations,  whether  in  plants  or  in  bodies  of  living  creat- 
ures— all  of  indispensable  utility,  and  all  of  which  are 
most  obviously  distinguishable  from  laws.  Now,  what 
we  affirm  is,  that  even  though  we  should  admit  matter, 
with  all  its  laws,  to  be  eternal — if  ever  these  dispositions 
had  a  beginning,  it  is  not  the  laws,  the  blind  headlong 
forces  or  laws,  which  could  ever  have  originated  them ; 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  should  these  dispositions  ever  be 
destroyed,  it  is  not  the  laws  which  can  replace  them. 


94  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

4.  Herein  lies  the  main  strength  of  our  argument  for  a 
God,  as  furnished  by  the  contemplation  of  external  nature. 
Whether  indeed  we  reason  on  a  divine  or  a  human  work- 
manship, the  inference  of  design  is  grounded  in  both  on  the 
same  kind  of  data.  But  it  is  obvious  that  in  the  case  of 
the  human  artificer  this  inference  is  grounded  on  the  dis- 
positions of  matter,  and  on  these  alone.  We  do  not  ac- 
credit him  either  with  the  creation  of  the  material  that  he 
uses,  or  with  the  establishment  of  any  of  its  properties. 
He  takes  matter  as  he  finds  it ;  and,  without  attempting  to 
communicate  to  it  any  new  laws,  he  can  but  avail  himself 
and  try  to  make  the  most  of  the  laws  already  in  operation; 
and  this  he  does  simply  by  fashioning  things  aright  and 
placing  them  aright — and  so  putting  that  matter,  which  he 
neither  called  into  being  nor  endowed  with  its  properties, 
into  the  w^ay  of  being  moved  or  directed  towards  the  ac- 
complishment of  some  purpose  that  he  has  in  view.  In  the 
execution  of  a  machine,  he  only  gives  to  each  thing,  of 
previous  existence  and  properties,  which  passes  through 
his  hands,  its  right  size,  its  right  form,  its  right  situation. 
He  does  not  give  its  elasticity  to  the  mainspring  of  a  watch : 
he  only  so  relates  it  to  the  other  machinery  that  it  may 
give  impulse  to  the  whole.  He  did  not  ordain  the  mechani- 
cal powers  ;  but  he  avails  himself  of  one  of  these,  when, 
by  a  succession  of  levers,  each  connected  with  the  others 
by  the  teeth  and  pinions  of  a  wheelwork,  he  institutes  a 
series  of  increasing  velocities  between  the  central  force 
and  the  revolving  second-hand.  It  was  not  he  who  estab- 
lished the  law  of  equal  vibrations  in  a  pendulum  or  balance- 
wheel  ;  but  it  is  he  who  fixes  the  wheel  in  that  position, 
where  it  restrains  the  movement,  and  keeps  it  at  a  uniform 
pace.  It  was  not  he  who  established  that  law  to  which  the 
regulator  is  indebted  for  its  power  either  to  accelerate  the 
motion  or  to  retard  it;  but  it  is  he,  who,  knowing  the  law, 
assigned  to  the  regulator  that  place  of  command  where 
alone  it  could  guide  and  overrule  the  motion.  It  was  not 
he  who  gave  the  glass  its  transparency;  but  it  is  he  who 
spread  it  over  the  face  of  the  timepiece,  at  once  protecting 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  05 

it  from  injury,  and  yet  leaving  open  to  the  observation  of 
the  eye  the  characters  which  are  graven  thereupon.  In  a 
word,  he  is  the  author  only  of  the  dispositions  of  this  mech- 
anism, and  not  of  the  laws.  His  sole  office  is  to  put  things 
of  right  quality,  size,  and  form,  into  their  right  places;  and 
yet  though  this  be  all  he  does,  it  is  enough  to  imprint  the 
unequivocal  traces  of  design  and  a  designer  upon  his  per- 
formance ;  and  to  leave  this  resistless  attestation,  that  the 
hand  of  an  artist  has  been  there.  He  ordains  no  law,  he 
communicates  no  property.  For  example,  it  is  not  he  who 
gives  to  flint  its  power  of  striking  fire  with  iron ;  yet  he 
gives  full  indication  of  the  purpose  and  the  purposing  mind 
that  has  been  concerned  in  the  fabrication  of  a  gun-lock, 
by  giving  to  the  flint  and  the  iron  their  respective  places, 
so  that  the  fire  which  is  struck  out  between  them  shall  light 
the  gunpowder  that  has  been  set  in  the  pan  below.  Nei- 
ther hath  he  established  the  law  or  property  of  deflagration; 
yet  does  he  sufficiently  impress  another  mark  of  intelligence 
on  this  product  of  human  skill,  by  the  position  of  the  touch- 
hole,  and  so  the  opening  of  a  passage  from  the  kindling 
without  to  the  combustible  within.  We  trust  that  this  dis- 
tinction betw^een  the  dispositions  and  the  laws  is  sufficiently 
apparent,  and  needs  be  traced  no  further,  though  observ- 
able in  every  combination  of  means  or  materials  for  every 
useful  end  which  the  hand  of  man  at  the  bidding  of  his 
mind  has  had  to  do  with — as  a  ship,  or  a  steam-engine, 
or  a  printing-press,  or  a  plow,  or  a  carriage,  or  an  imple- 
ment of  any  sort  where  two  or  more  things  are  so  put 
together  as  to  subserve  some  obvious  utility,  which  may 
be  gathered  from  the  mere  inspection  of  the  machine  itself, 
and  especially  when  we  see  it  in  actual  operation.  With- 
out the  dispositions  the  laws  could  do  nothing  of  themselves ; 
for,  let  the  parts  of  any  of  the  instruments  now  specified  be 
taken  down  and  thrown  together  at  random,  they  would 
but  exhibit  a  little  chaos,  and  give  no  mark  whatever  ol 
any  skill  having  been  concerned  in  the  chance-medley  ar- 
rangement which  lay  before  our  eyes ;  nor  would  even  all 
the  laws  of  nature  that  we  know  of  bring  order  out  of  this 


INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


confusion.  They  are  the  dispositions,  and  they  alone 
which  have  to  do  with  the  setting  up  of  these  respective 
machines — though,  after  they  have  been  set  up,  they  are 
the  laws  which  have  to  do  with  the  working  of  them.  In 
the  workmanships  of  art  the  artificer  man  is  limited  to  the 
dispositions,  the  laws  having  been  found  to  his  hand ;  yet 
in  the  various  machines  which  are  of  his  setting  up  we  can 
read  the  incontestable  signatures  of  a  contrivance  and  a 
contriver.  In  the  workmanships  of  nature,  the  artificer  or 
yet  unknown  God  may  have  both  created  the  matter  and 
established  its  laws  as  well  as  its  collocations  ;  yet,  just  as 
in  the  human  fabrications,  it  is  not  in  the  laws,  but  in  the 
machinery  of  our  world  that  we  discern  the  indications  of 
a  Deity.  He  may  have — we  are  sure  that  He  has — estab- 
lished the  laws  of  matter ;  but  still  it  is  by  its  dispositions 
that  we  discover  Him.  It  is  not  through  the  medium  of 
the  laws  which  keep  the  machine  in  motion,  but  through 
the  medium  of  the  dispositions  by  which  the  machine  was 
set  up,  that  we  descry  the  finger  of  an  artificer  in  the  mun- 
dane system  around  us.  We  do  not  ask  if  ever  a  time  was 
when  the  matter  of  the  world  had  no  existence,  or  if  ever 
n  time  was  when  the  laws  of  this  matter  were  not  in  opera- 
tion ;  but  if  ever  a  time  was  when  the  present  order  of  the 
world — its  machinery  and  exquisite  organic  structures — 
had  yet  to  be  set  up  ?  It  is  in  these,  then,  that  the  wisdom 
of  a  presiding  mind  is  most  legibly  held  forth  to  us — these 
form  our  chief,  if  not  our  only  materials  on  the  field  of 
external  nature  for  the  demonstration  of  a  God.* 

5.  This  distinction  of  ours  between  the  dispositions  of 
matter  and  its  laws  serves  for  a  mighty  disencumbrance 
of  the  whole  argument,  relieving  it  of  much  that  is  weak 
and  obscure  and  questionable.  We  affirm  not  the  eternity 
of  matter,  save  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  out  our  conclu- 
sion. When  reasoning  on  the  present  order  of  things,  we 
do  not  need  to  prove  its  non-eternity — an  attempt  this  on 

*  The  main  argument  for  a  God  from  the  external  world  lies  not  in  the 
laws  of  matter,  but  in  its  dispositions. — Gen.  i. ;  Ps.  civ.;  cxxxix.  14-16; 
Job  xxvi. ;  xxxvi.  26-33  ;  xxxvii. ;  xxxix.  - 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  97 


which  a  deal  of  most  unsatisfactory  metaphysics  has  been 
expended.  It  is  a  lesson  which  might  come  to  us  from 
another  quarter,  and  accordingly  it  has  been  given  forth 
distinctly  and  decisively  by  a  well  accredited  revelation. 
Whether  the  light  of  nature  be  competent  or  not  to  the 
discovery  that  the  matter  of  our  world  was  created  out  of 
nothing,  it  is  well  that  on  the  basis  of  a  most  familiar  ex- 
perience it  can  discern  so  clearly  and  affirm  so  undoubting- 
ly,  when  looking  to  the  manifold  and  goodly  dispositions 
which  obtain  in  the  actual  system  of  our  world,  that  the 
master-hand  of  a  great  and  intelligent  Architect  must  have 
been  concerned  in  them,  who,  whether  the  materials  had  a 
previous  existence  or  not,  must  have  put  them  together 
into  all  those  innumerable  varieties  of  orderly  and  bene- 
ficial collocation  which  are  everywhere  around  us,  and 
make  the  whole  of  visible  nature  instinct  with  the  evidence 
of  a  Deity.  In  as  far  as  the  argument  is  founded  on  the 
dispositions  of  matter,  and  neither  on  its  existence  nor  its 
laws,  there  is  a  perfect  kindredness  between  the  works  of 
nature  and  those  of  human  art ;  and  all  that  seems  neces- 
sary to  render  the  inference  of  a  God  who  willed  and  de^ 
signed,  not  the  substance  of  the  world,  but  its  present  sub- 
sistent  economy  into  being-^is  to  prove  that  this  economy 
had  a  commencement,  or  was  not  from  everlasting. 

6.  Ere  I  proceed  to  point  out  where  it  is  that  this  proof 
is  to  be  found,  let  me  state  the  argument  of  this  lecture  in 
terms  suggested  in  a  felicitous  and  memorable  distinction 
by  Professor  Robison,  when,  in  the  introduction  to  his 
"  Course  of  Natural  Philosophy,"  he  took  a  general  view 
of  the  philosophy  of  external  nature,  and  assigned  the 
proper  place  and  description  to  its  respective  sciences. 
He  first  made  a  general  division  of  the  whole  into  two 
sciences — the  one  being  the  science  of  contemporaneous, 
the  other  the  science  of  successive  nature  ;  or  to  express  it 
differently,  the  one  the  science  of  objects,  the  other  of 
events :  or  differently  still,  the  one  the  science  of  all  those 
sensible  properties  in  matter  which  exist  together  at  the 
same  moment  in  space,  the  other  the  science  of  those  pro- 

VOL.  VII. — E 


98  -INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

cesses  which  require  time  for  their  evolution  and  accom- 
plishment. The  forms,  the  magnitude,  the  dispositions  of 
bodies,  and  of  their  several  parts,  all  belong,  it  is  obvious, 
to  the  former,  or  to  contemporaneous  nature ;  whereas 
processes,  all  of  which  are  referable  to  certain  forces  or 
laws,  such  as  the  mechanical  forces,  or  the  laws  of  chemi- 
cal affinity,  or  the  laws  of  physiology  and  electricity  and 
magnetism  and  optics — ^these  must  be  assigned  to  the  lat- 
ter department,  or  to  the  science  of  successive  nature. 
Now,  by  one  of  Mr.  Robison's  fine  generalizations,  the 
former  is  termed  natural  history,  the  latter  natural  philoso- 
phy ;  and  were  we  to  announce  the  principle  of  our  argu- 
ment in  the  nomenclature  of  these  definitions,  we  should 
say — that  if  the  arrangements  of  our  existing  natural  his- 
tory were  destroyed,  there  is  nothing  in  the  laws  of  our 
existing  natural  philosophy  which  is  fitted  to  replace  them ; 
or  what  is  tantamount  to  this,  if  ever  a  time  was  when  the 
present  order,  the  present  economy  of  things,  was  not,  it 
could  never  have  been  set  up,  never  have  been  established, 
by  all  the  known  powers  of  nature  put  together ;  so  that  to 
account  for  its  endless  variety  and  number  of  useful  collo- 
cations— such  as  on  the  field  of  human  experience,  when 
we  have  access  to  the  cause  which  gave  them  birth,  we 
never  see  brought  forth  at  random  or  originated  in  any 
other  way  than  by  a  designer's  hand — we,  in  the  defect  of 
all  visible  agencies  on  the  theater  of  sense  and  observation, 
are  shut  up  to  the  fiat  and  interposition  of  a  God. 

7.  There  are  certain  reasonings  in  behalf  of  a  com- 
mencement for  our  present  order  of  things  which  we  shall 
here  omit,  and  that  not  altogether  from  their  want  of 
strength,  but  from  their  want  of  obviousness,  and  just  be- 
cause we  can  aflford  so  well  to  give  them  up.  That  our  pre- 
sent animal  and  vegetable  races  should  have  subsisted  from 
all  eternity,  for  example,  is  one  of  those  odd  imaginations  of 
atheism  which  could  perhaps  be  effectually  disposed  of  by 
general  considerations,  such  as  the  extreme  difficulty  of 
conceiving  an  eternal  succession  of  generations  ab  ante, 
and  extreme  unlikelihood  of  a  chain  that  stretched  in  that 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY. 


direction  to  infinity — where  each  link  was  dependent  on 
its  immediate  predecessor;  and  yet  where  all  together,  the 
series  on  the  whole,  was  independent  of  any  cause,  ah  extra, 
which  could  be  assigned  for  the  existence  of  it.  It  cer- 
tainly does  mark  the  strange  and  incongruous  credulity  of 
skepticism — properties  which,  however  seemingly  opposite 
to  each  other,  are  often  conjoined — that  it  should  take 
refuge  and  feel  itself  secure  in  such  an  hypothesis  as  this — 
which  when  itself  complains  of  the  difficulties  that  encom- 
pass the  reUgious  system,  might  well  be  urged  home  as 
one  among  the  many  and  far  more  formidable  difficulties 
of  infidelity. 

8.  And  neither  shall  we  insist  now  on  the  historical 
proofs  for  a  commencement  to  the  present  system  of  our 
world — though  this  might  well  be  deemed  as  the  most  ap- 
propriate evidence  for  the  truth  of  an  event,  a  thing  in 
itself  historical.  But  we  shall  meanwhile  forego  this  argu- 
ment also;  though,  had  we  entered  on  it,  we  should  have 
felt  ourselves  entitled,  and  that  in  strict  philosophy  or  on 
the  clearest  and  most  received  principles  of  sound  criticism, 
to  have  drawn  largely  on  the  Jewish  records,  or  writings 
of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  this  in  the  face  of  a  very  gen- 
eral disposition  to  set  them  aside  as  witnesses — because 
themselves  regarded,  while  the  investigation  is  going  for- 
ward, as  prisoners  on  their  trial.  There  is  a  perversity  on 
this  subject,  w^hich  we  have  elsewhere  attempted  to  ex- 
pose ;  and  in  virtue  of  which  the  best  vouchers  of  all 
antiquity  are  liable  to  be  set  aside,  merely  because  from 
their  hundred-fold  greater  evidence  than  that  of  all  the 
others  which  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  remoter 
periods  of  the  world,  they  have  long  commanded  the  faith 
and  veneration  of  ages. 

9.  But  instead  of  entering  either  on  a  metaphysical  or 
on  the  historical  argument  for  a  commencement  to  our 
present  world,  let  us  see  whether  more  palpable  and  satis- 
fying indications  of  this  might  not  be  collected,  simply  by 
looking  directly  and  outwardly  on  the  scene  of  observation, 
as  spread  out  before  us.     One  thing  is  obvious,  that  there 


100  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

are  causes  now  at  work,  which  if  not  counteracted,  must 
at  length  issue  in  the  submerging  of  all  the  dry  land  on  the 
face  of  our  globe  under  the  waters  of  our  present  ocean, 
or  in  the  total  demolition  of  that  platform  which  serves  at 
once  for  the  occupancy  and  the  sustenance  of  all  the  living 
generations  of  land  animals.  There  are  agents  in  nature, 
as  of  frost,  for  example,  under  the  operation  of  which  the 
hardest  of  earth's  rocky  materials  are  in  successive  layers 
loosened  and  pulverized,  or  are  separated  and  fall  in  large 
masses  from  the  precipices  to  which  they  have  adhered  for 
ages.  In  either  way,  and  more  rapidly,  we  believe,  by  the 
slow  unobserved  dissipation  of  its  substance  in  those  minute 
particles  which  are  constantly  scaling  off  from  day  to  day, 
and  from  hour  to  hour,  than  by  those  mighty  avalanches 
which  occur  at  longer  intervals  of  time,  burying  villages 
in  their  ruins,  and  covering  the  plains  below  with  the 
wrecks  and  memorials  of  a  great  catastrophe — but  in 
either  way  are  the  sightliest  mountains  on  the  face  of  our 
globe,  the  Alps  and  the  Andes  of  our  present  continent, 
letting  themselves  down  from  the  lofty  eminence  which 
they  now  occupy.  But  this  process  of  descent  and  disin- 
tegration will  not  stop  here.  The  same  power  which 
severed  these  fragments  from  their  original  rock,  con- 
tinues to  act  upon  them  ;  and  if  not  previously  transported 
to  the  rivers,  or  led  where  they  are  subjected  to  other 
forces,  will,  in  the  course  of  years  or  centuries,  reduce 
them  to  the  dust  of  the  field.  And  neither  is  this  their 
final  resting-place— for  there  they  are  liable,  with  every 
shower  that  falls,  to  be  carried  so  far  downward  in  fur- 
rows, till  after  many  thousand,  perhaps,  of  successive  jour- 
neys, they  mingle  with  the  stream,  where  they  are  quickly 
transported  in  the  form  of  sediment,  and  lodged  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  ocean.  And  this  process  is  mightily  hastened 
both  by  the  undermining  of  every  river's  bank,  and  the 
perpetual  action  of  the  waves  along  the  margin  which 
separates  the  land  from  the  sea — an  action  which  never 
ceases  to  reiterate  by  impulses  of  countless  number  on  the 
shore,  and  against  which  the  firmest  battlements  along  the 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  101 

coast  are  at  length  destined  to  give  way.  It  is  to  the  in- 
cessant motion  of  the  atmosphere,  the  most  restless  and 
susceptible  of  all  our  elements,  that  this  demolition  is  main- 
ly and  primarily  owing — for  it  is  both  the  bearer  of  those 
vapors  which,  deposited  in  rain,  act  by  a  descending  force 
upon  the  uplands,  and  it  is  the  impellent  of  those  waves 
which  operate  on  the  beach — beside  that  by  its  own  direct 
impulse  on  the  dry  and  powdery  soil,  it  scatters  the  loose 
earth  in  every  direction  which  the  winds  of  heaven  might 
take,  but  yet  so  as  that  by  the  unfailing  law  of  gravity, 
the  matter  of  our  dry  land  must  be  ever  tending  to  a  lower 
level  than  before.  The  progression  we  admit  to  be  ex- 
ceeding slow — nor  can  we  tell  how  many  thousands  are 
the  generations  which  must  elapse  before  it  reaches  its 
accomplishment.  But  it  should  be  remembered  that  eter- 
nity forms  an  element  of  this  calculation ;  and  with  this 
high  reckoning  on  our  side,  we  can  with  all  confidence 
affirm  of  the  earth  we  tread  upon,  that  it  is  posting  visibly 
to  its  end — that  it  will  not  survive  the  indefinite  tear  and 
wear  of  centuries,  that  it  now  wastes  and  waxes  old,  and 
must  ultimately  disappear,  when  over  the  whole  face  of 
our  world  there  shall  be  naught  but  one  howling  wilder- 
ness of  waters.* 

10.  It  is  from  what  we  behold  of  this  process  at  present, 
and  in  transitu,  that  we  infer  the  certainty  of  its  future 
termination.  But  with  equal  confidence  might  we  infer 
the  certainty  of  its  past  commencement.  For  if  it  never 
had  a  beginning,  then  at  all  events  it  could  not  have  sub- 
sisted to  the  present  day — seeing  that  there  could  only  be 
a  definite  time  between  its  outset  and  its  final  consumma- 
tion ;  so  that  if  for  the  former  extreme  you  have  to  go 
upward  among  the  viewless  recesses  of  the  eternity  behind 
us,  then  the  whole  process  must  have  elapsed  long  ago,  or 
rather,  for  the  latter  extreme  also,  we  should  have  to  go 
upward  among  recesses  alike  inaccessible,  and  alike  be- 
yond or  above  all  our  powers  of  computation. 

*  The  present  system  of  things  contains  within  itself  the  elements  of 
decay.— 2  Cor.  iv.  18 ;  Job  xiv.  18,  19 ;  Heb.  i.  10,  12. 


102  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

11,  Bat  we  are  aware  that  when  the  argument  is  put  in 
this  form,  it  is  capable  of  being  evaded.  We  may  be  told 
that  possibly  there  is  an  elevation  of  the  land  by  the  ex- 
pansive force  of  heat  from  below,  which  would  compensate 
for  the  causes  of  its  degradation  that  we  have  now  speci- 
fied. At  this  rate  the  present  living  generations  might  still 
be  kept  above  water,  and  so  have  leave  to  be  sustained 
and  perpetuated  everlastingly.  It  will  be  better  therefore 
that  we  go  at  once  to  the  direct  proofs  which  observation 
offers,  and  which  have  been  so  multiplied  of  late  years,  for 
the  commencement  of  our  present  system — even  though  it 
should  be  only  to  establish  a  matter  which  might  well 
seem  so  unnecessary  to  be  argued  at  all,  as  that  the  pres- 
ent animal  and  vegetable  races  have  not  subsisted  from 
eternity.  We  should  not  grudge  the  superabundant  evi- 
dence that  might  be  adduced  upon  this  question — seeing 
that  it  lands  us  in  the  nearest  and  most  experimental 
demonstration  which  can  be  gathered  from  the  phenomena 
of  the  material  world  for  the  intervention  of  a  God. 

12.  In  building  up  this  argument  it  is  chiefly  on  the 
science  of  geology  that  we  draw,  which  of  late  years  has 
obtained  so  great,  and  still  rapidly  growing,  an  accession 
to  its  facts  and  its  evidences.  Till  the  time  of  Cuvier,  its 
observations  were  almost  exclusively  mineralogical — di- 
rected as  they  chiefly  were  to  the  structure  and  distribu- 
tion of  all  that  various  matter  which  forms  the  crust  of  our 
globe.  On  this  large  and  broad  field  of  survey,  the  views 
which  it  gave  forth  were  of  a  general  and  extended  char- 
acter, relating  principally  to  the  lie  and  inclination  of  those 
numerous  layers  which  are  so  visible  everywhere  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  and  at  the  greatest  accessible  depths 
beneath  it,  to  the  order  in  which  these  seem  to  have  en- 
crusted each  other,  and  to  the  distinction  between  the  strat- 
ified and  crystallized  rocks.  The  origin  of  the  latter 
formed  one  of  the  greatest  controversies  in  the  science. 
Both  parties  held  the  common  opinion  that  the  matter  thus 
crystallized  was  at  one  time  in  a  liquid  state;  but  the  great 
dispute  turned  on  the  solvent  power,  or  whether  the  matter 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  103 


in  question  had  been  melted  by  heat  or  dissolved  by  water. 
With  this,  however,  and  many  other  diversities,  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  very  general  agreement  amongst 
all — with  the  exception  of  those  who  have  been  termed  the 
Mosaic  geologists — that  this  earth  has  been  the  theater  of 
many  and  great  revolutions — that  the  present  economy  of 
things  has  arisen  from  a  chaos  brought  on  by  the  last  of 
these,  but  that  each  of  the  former  catastrophes  was  also 
succeeded  by  a  peculiar  economy  of  its  own,  that  in  like 
manner  as  now,  the  innumerable  rivers  which  are  wearing 
down  our  present  land,  bearing  it  down  in  sediment,  and 
spreading  it  in  successive  layers  over  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  and  so  as  to  form  the  strata  of  the  next  order  of  things 
which  will  come  after  the  present  one,  in  like  manner,  un- 
der each  of  the  former  economies,  strata  were  deposited 
in  the  same  way,  and  so  as  to  form  the  materials  of  that 
economy  by  which  it  was  succeeded  and  replaced.  It  is 
thus  that  geologists  tell  us  of  the  distinct  and  successive 
formations  which  have  taken  place  in  the  history  of  our 
vexed  and  agitated  globe ;  and  from  the  relative  positions 
of  which  they  can  assign  their  order  of  succession,  or  the 
relative  positions  of  each  of  them. 

13.  But  they  are  the  discoveries  of  Cuvier,  now  in  rapid 
process  of  multiplication  and  enlargement  by  those  who 
follow  him  in  the  same  walk,  which  promise  to  make  geol- 
ogy one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  sciences.  What  we 
now  advert  to  is  the  wondrous  field  of  observation  which 
has  of  late  been  opened  up  to  us  in  the  numerous  organic 
remains  that  lie  scattered  through  all  these  formations, 
with  the  exception  perhaps  of  the  one  or  two  oldest  in  the 
series  as  laid  down  by  geologists — so  numerous  that  they 
have  now  been  systematized  into  a  fossil  botany  and  fossil 
zoology — the  botany  and  the  zoology,  therefore,  it  might 
well  be  concluded  of  former  worlds,  all  successively  over- 
spreading the  same  globe  with  the  one  that  we  now  tread 
upon,  but  constituting  wholly  different  surfaces,  made  up 
of  other  seas  and  continents  and  islands  from  those  which 
compose  the  present  geography  of  the  earth.     We  now 


104  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

walk  on  a  platform  of  our  own,  raised  above  the  waters 
by  an  elevating  power  from  beneath,  and  clothed  with  its 
own  peculiar  herbage,  for  the  sustenance  of  its  own  peculiar 
tribes  and  genera  and  species  of  living  creatures.  But 
mineralogists  can  tell,  and  that  on  the  evidence  of  miner- 
alogy alone,  of  the  wreck  and  the  wear  of  old  platforms, 
now  gone  by,  each  undergoing  the  same  process  of  decay 
along  which  our  present  world  is  visibly  hastening  to  its 
end,  and  each  attesting  its  own  station  in  the  order  of  de- 
scent by  the  place  which  its  ruins  now  occupy.  But  the 
testimony  of  these  observers  did  not  command  the  general 
attention,  far  less  the  large,  if  not  the  general  assent  which 
is  now  given  to  it,  till  they  were  followed  by  another  class 
of  naturaUsts,  who  superadded  a  distinct  and  independent 
evidence  of  their  own,  and  which,  by  the  very  force  that 
lies  in  its  combination  with  the  other,  makes  it,  in  our  esti- 
mation, well-nigh  irresistible.  We  mean  that  of  the  compar- 
ative anatomists,  or  rather  the  students  of  organic  nature, 
alike  in  its  animal  and  vegetable  departments,  whose  pro- 
vince it  is  not  to  study  the  composition  or  arrangement 
of  the  rocks,  but  certain  minute  characters  that  are  graven 
thereupon,  and  in  consequence  of  which  they  can  tell  that 
each  distinct  formation — each  platform  or  economy  of 
other  periods,  whereof  it  was  the  relic  and  the  representative 
— had,  like  the  existing  panorama  on  which  we  now  open 
our  eyes,  its  own  peculiar  botany,  its  own  peculiar  zoology. 
Or,  in  other  words,  from  the  study  of  these  characters 
alone,  and  which  have  been  well  denominated  the  archives 
of  the  globe,  we  learn  that  each  of  these  bygone  worlds 
had  other  plants  than  ours,  and  was  peopled  with  other 
generations  both  of  land  and  of  sea  animals.  Altogether 
it  is  a  wondrous  contemplation  to  which  geology  of  late 
has  introduced  us — vast  and  sublime  as  astronomy  itself; 
for  each  science  deals  with  the  element  of  immensity,  the 
one  being  the  immensity  of  space,  the  other  of  time— the 
one  carrying  us  abroad  over  the  plains  of  an  infinitude  that 
knows  no  bounds,  the  other  upward  to  the  heights  of  an 
unknown  antiquity,  and  among  the  primeval  counsels  of  a 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  105 

God  who  is  unsearchable.  In  looking  back  through  the 
ascending  generations  of  men  to  our  own  patriarchal  ages, 
we  feel  as  if  a  mighty  period  had  elapsed  from  the  com- 
mencement of  our  world  ;  but  to  think  of  our  world  as 
itself  a  generation,  or  but  one  in  a  pedigree  of  worlds,  the 
single  link  of  a  progression  which  moves  with  giant  foot- 
step from  one  system  to  another — thus  to  lift  our  computa- 
tion from  thousands  of  years  to  thousands  and  millions  of 
centuries — to  trace  a  way,  not  through  successive  eras  of 
our  own  solitary  race,  but  from  one  dynasty  to  another  of 
successive  creations — it  is  this  which  proves  so  baffling  to 
man's  spirit,  and  gives  an  emphasis  unfelt  before  to  the 
saying  of  an  inspired  patriarch,  who,  after  having  exhaust- 
ed his  description  of  God's  present  and  visible  works,  or  as 
it  were  his  last  and  nearest  footsteps,  exclaims  that  these 
are  only  parts  of  His  ways;  for  how  small  a  portion  is 
heard  of  Him,  and  the  secrets,  whether  of  His  mighty 
power  or  mysterious  purposes,  who  can  comprehend  ? 

14.  But  out  of  these  materials  let  us  construct  our  argu- 
ment for  the  hand  of  a  God,  or  the  intromission  of  a  Divine 
power  with  the  steps  of  that  process  which  geology,  in  the 
light  of  an  evidence  growing  every  day,  now  sets  before 
us.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  observed  of  the  animal  remains 
in  the  proximate  formation,  or  that  which  immediately 
precedes  our  own,  that  they  indicate  a  good  many  of  the 
existing  species,  and  some  even  of  the  existing  genera  of 
our  present  era  ;  but  that  in  the  next  higher  formation  the 
number  of  these  is  greatly  diminished  ;  and  that  after  hav- 
ing reached  one  or  two  more  in  the  order  of  ascent,  all 
traces  of  such  living  creatures  as  those  by  which  the  earth 
is  now  peopled  wholly  disappear.  Take,  in  connection 
with  this,  the  now  all  but  universal  faith  of  naturalists  : 
first,  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  spontaneous  generation 
— that  each  animal  comes  from  a  parent  of  its  own  likeness  ; 
and  that  out  of  this  established  line  of  transmission,  there  is 
not,  so  far  as  we  have  observed,  a  known  power  in  na- 
ture, and  not  any  combination  of  powers,  whether  electric, 
or  chemical,  or  mechanical,  or  of  whatever  description, 


106  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

which  has  yielded  any  product  that  approximated  in  the 
least  to  an  organic  creature,  having  the  functions  of  life, 
and  all  those  numerous  collocations  of  parts  and  members 
and  vessels,  of  nice  and  curious  workmanship,  v^^hich  are 
indispensable  to  its  being.  And  secondly,  add  to  this  the 
no  less  generally  received  doctrine,  that  all  the  distinct 
species  of  animals  are  separated  by  invincible  barriers 
from  each  other — that  there  is  no  transmutation  of  them 
by  intermixture  into  a  progeny  of  different  sorts  from  the 
parentage  w^hich  gave  them  birth,  for  that  the  power  of 
further  descent  is  arrested  at  the  first  step  of  any  such 
mongrel  generation.  Conjoin  these  two  doctrines,  and 
then  ask  whence  was  it  that  the  present  genera  and  spe- 
cies of  our  globe  took  their  commencement  ?  for  in  a  few 
steps  upward  among  the  formations  which  preceded  our 
era.,  we  lose  all  trace  or  vestige  of  the  existence  of  any  of 
them.  Not  from  an  antecedent  parentage  of  their  own 
likeness,  for  none  such  in  the  older  periods  of  the  world 
are  to  be  found.  Not  from  an  antecedent  parentage  of 
different  likeness,  for  thus  to  suppose  that  the  zoology  of 
our  present  has  sprung  from  the  zoology  of  altogether  dis- 
similar characters,  in  the  eras  that  have  gone  before  us, 
were  in  direct  contravention  to  our  second  law.  And 
finally,  as  not  by  birth,  so  not  by  any  composition  of  any 
other  sort  that  lies  within  all  the  known  powers  and  re- 
sources of  materialism,  for  this  again  were  as  direct  a 
contravention  to  our  first  law.  In  a  word,  we  know  of  no 
power  in  all  the  magazines  of  nature  that  could  have 
originated  the  new  races,  whether  of  animals  or  vegeta- 
bles, which  now  replenish  our  world ;  and  at  no  transition 
in  nature's  history  do  we  meet  either  with  a  more  palpable 
necessity  or  more  palpable  evidence  for  the  finger  and 
forthputting  of  a  God. 

15.  It  is  obvious  that  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
independent  circumstances  which  meet  together  in  one 
combination,  each  and  all  of  them  being  indispensable  to 
some  end  of  obvious  utility,  the  greater  is  the  unlikelihood 
of  their  having  met  at  random,  or  by  the  headlong  opera- 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  107 

tion  of  blind  and  unconscious  forces ;  and  what  is  tanta- 
mount to  this,  the  greater  is  the  Hkehhood  of  their  having 
been  joined  and  fitted  to  each  other  by  a  designing  cause 
— by  an  intelUgent  Being  who  both  devised  the  end  and 
devised  the  means  for  its  accompHshment— who  both  con- 
ceived the  purpose  and  had  the  power,  as  evinced  in  the 
actual  forth  putting,  of  carrying  into  effect.  The  cancur- 
rence  even  of  but  two  such  circumstances,  if  necessary, 
and  at  the  same  time  effectual  for  some  given  fulfillment, 
would  yield  a  certain  amount  of  probability  that  for  the 
sake  of  this  fulfillment  they  were  so  adjusted  to  each  other. 
This  probability  would  be  greatly  enhanced  by  the  acces- 
sion of  a  third  circumstance,  and  would  increase  most 
rapidly — at  more,  in  fact,  than  a  geometrical  pace — were 
a  fourth  or  fifth  or  sixth  circumstance  added  to  the  number 
of  them,  each  being  essential  to  the  production  of  some 
obvious  and  desirable  end,  till,  as  must  be  well  known  to 
every  one  conversant  in  the  doctrine  of  chances,  should 
there  be  anything  like  ten  or  twenty  independent  condi- 
tions that  enter  into  some  useful  combination,  so  sis  to  form 
an  instrument  or  mechanism  of  any  sort,  the  numerical 
proof  yielded  thereby  of  its  being  not  a  blind  or  fortuitous 
product,  but  the  product  of  a  contrivance,  and  come  from 
the  hand  of  a  contriver,  exceeds  all  computation,  and  at 
length  comes  indefinitely  near  to  a  moral  certainty.  It  is 
this  which  gives  such  force  to  the  demonstrations  of  com- 
plex anatomy,  and  makes  them  so  immeasurably  superior 
to  those  of  simpler,  though  sublime  astronomy,  in  the  argu- 
ment for  a  God.  Nature,  it  is  true,  in  all  her  departments 
abounds  in  those  collocations  which  bespeak  a  designing 
cause,  so  as  to  be  everywhere  instinct  with  the  evidence 
of  a  divinity,  but  this  evidence  is  vastly  more  intense  in  a 
collocation  of  many  than  of  few  parts.  The  manifest  office 
of  the  eye  is  seeing.  Yet  who  can  tell  the  multitude  and 
variety  of  separate  conditions  which  are  requisite  for  the 
due  performance  of  this  function — as  a  right  disposition  of 
the  refracting  humors — the  form  and  relative  position  of 
the  different  lenses — the  structure,  I  understand,  of  one  of 


108  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

these  lenses,  not,  it  would  now  appear,  having  a  surface  of 
continuous  curvature,  but  formed  by  a  congeries  in  thou- 
sands of  minute  and  microscopic  planes,  and  these  with  a 
most  precise  mathematical  adaptation  to  the  object  of  carry- 
ing forward  the  rays  of  light  unmixed,  and  free  of  all  optical 
confusion  till  they  make  a  distinct  image  on  the  retina  behind  ; 
and  then,  beside  the  eye-lashes,  which  serve  for  a  screen  of 
defense,  we  have  the  muscles  wherewith  the  organ  is  so 
curiously  beset,  all  in  right  place,  yet  within  such  limita- 
tions in  the  range  of  their  command  as  might  best  regulate 
the  motions  of  the  eye,  whether  for  the  protection  of  so  deli- 
cate a  mechanism,  or  for  the   direct  purposes  of  vision. 
We  give  a  very  imperfect  description  ;  but  we  are  quite 
safe  in  affirming,  that  within  the  narrow  compass  of  an 
eye  there  is  a  greater  condensation  of  evidence  for  a  Deity 
than  we  can  gather  on  a  broad  and  general  survey  of  the 
heavens,  from  the  motions  or  the  relation  of  part  to  part 
of  our  mighty  planetarium.     Within  the  limits  of  a  hand- 
breadth,  and   under  our  immediate   observation,  He   has 
made  a  more  legible  inscription  of  Himself  than  can  be 
descried  by  us,  at  least,  among  all  those  wonders  of  the  firm- 
ament which  the  telescope  has  unfolded — and  this  on  but 
a  single  organ  of  the  human  body.     That  wondrous  micro- 
cosm which  teems  and  is  crowded  all  over  with  innumera- 
ble collocations  and  fitnesses,  not  of  convenience  only,  but 
of  indispensable  necessity  for  upholding  man  in  the  state 
and  with  the  functions  of  a  living  creature — insomuch  that 
we  do  not  overstate  in  our  reckoning  when  we  affirm,  that 
for  the  purpose  of  insuring  to  him  the  ease  of  every  mo- 
ment, ten  thousand  independent  circumstances  must  meet 
together,  the  failure  of  any  one  of  which  would  be  death 
or  intolerable  agony.     You  cannot  wonder  then  at  the 
value  we  have  for  the  argument  in  which  we  expatiated 
on  the  palpable  and  manifold  evidence  for  the  interposition 
of  a  God— at  that  period  when  a  new  economy  arose  from 
the  ruins  of  the  one  that  had  gone  before  it,  and  the  earth, 
which  had  been  desolated  of  its  old,  was  replenished  with 
new  generations. 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  109 

16.  There  is  no  need  of  any  peculiar  mental  instinct,  any 
principle  of  evidence  sui  generis,  to  warrant  this  conclusion, 
or  vindicate  it  against  the  exceptions  of  skeptics  and  unbe- 
lievers. The  evidence  on  which  we  now  proceed  is  strict- 
ly an  experimental  one,  and  of  such  familiar  application, 
that  probably  not  a  day  passes  without  our  being  called 
to  ground  an  inference  or  judgment  thereupon.  When 
we  look  on  a  house  with  its  numerous  conveniences,  we 
instantly  pronounce  it  to  have  been  the  fruit  of  contrivance, 
and  that  it  indicates  a  contriver ;  and  it  is  not  for  a  differ- 
ent, but  for  the  very  same  reason,  that  when  we  look  on 
the  world  with  its  countless  adaptations  to  the  comfort  and 
sustenance  of  those  who  live  in  it,  we  pronounce  it  to  have 
been  the  formation  of  an  Architect  of  adequate  skill  for 
devising  such  a  fabric,  and  adequate  power  for  carrying 
His  scheme  into  execution.  Or,  limiting  our  view  still 
further,  in  the  teeth  of  an  animal  there  are  as  obvious 
characters  of  design  as  in  the  ribs  of  a  grate  ;  or,  when 
w^e  see  the  vent  which  surmounts  the  one,  and  serves  the 
manifest  purpose  of  conveying  upward  the  smoke  which  is 
formed  there,  we  ascribe  the  purpose  to  a  purposing  mind, 
and  it  is  on  no  other  principle  that  we  read  a  purpose  and 
require  a  purposing  mind  to  account  for  it,  when  we  see 
that  tube  or  pathway  in  the  animal  fabric  which  conveys 
its  masticated  food  from  the  mouth  to  the  stomach.  And 
there  is  nothing  to  distinguish  here  the  succession  of  cause 
and  effect  from  any  of  the  other  and  ordinary  sequences 
which  take  place  in  nature.  From  a  work  that  bears  upon 
it  the  usaal  and  obvious  characters  of  art,  we  infer  an  art- 
ist— ^just  as  from  ihe  posterior  we  infer  the  prior  term  of 
any  sequence  whereof  we  had  before  observed  both  its 
terms  and  the  conjunction  between  them.  Should  we  once 
see  a  workmanship  of  this  sort  proceed  from  the  hand  of  a 
designer,  then  when  another  such  workmanship  comes  un- 
der our  notice,  we  infer  design  and  a  designer  for  it  too,  in 
the  very  manner  that  from  the  sight  of  any  other  con- 
sequent we  infer  the  antecedent  that  usually  gives  birth 
to  it.     Let  A  be  the  prior  and  B  the  posterior  term  of  any 


110  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

sequence  between  which  experience  tells  that  there  is  the 
relation  of  invariableness,  so  as  to  follow  each  other  in  the 
order  of  cause  and  effect,  then  when  we  see  A  we  should 
anticipate  B,  or  when  we  see  B  we  should  infer  A ;  and 
just  as  the  terms  of  any  such  succession  might  be  repre- 
sented by  these  symbols — the  application  of  heat  to  ice  by 
A,  and  the  melting  of  it  by  B  ;  or  an  impulse  by  A,  and  the 
resulting  movement  by  B ;  or  the  contact  of  a  lighted 
match  with  gunpowder  by  A,  and  its  deflagration  by  B  ; 
or  the  presence  of  the  moon  in  the  firmament  above  by  A, 
and  the  elevation  of  the  waters  in  the  ocean  beneath  by  B 
— so  without  singularity  or  deviation  of  any  sort  should 
we  liken  to  these  the  forthputting  of  a  contriver's  skill, 
which  we  would  represent  by  A,  and  any  given  mechanism 
that  we  would  at  once  represent  by  B,  if  from  the  very  in- 
spection of  it  and  of  its  useful  collocations,  we  could  gather 
some  purpose  which  it  served,  or  some  function  it  was  fitted 
to  discharge.  In  this  last  succession,  too,  we  should  either 
anticipate  B  from  the  appearance  of  A,  or  infer  A  from 
the  appearance  of  B,  precisely  as  we  do  in  all  the  other 
successions  of  nature  or  history.  The  argument  by  which 
we  reason  upward  from  a  workmanship  to  a  workman,  or 
from  a  structure  of  any  sort  in  which  we  behold  part  adapt- 
ed to  part  in  the  relations  of  convenience  and  order,  to  an 
artificer  of  adequate  strength  and  skill  for  the  completion 
of  it — this  argument  is  strictly  and  altogether  an  experi- 
mental one,  and  to  seek  for  any  other  on  which  to  vindi- 
cate the  conclusion,  beside  being  mystical  and  unsatisfactory, 
is,  in  our  apprehension,  wholly  uncalled  for. 

17.  Nor  do  we  think  that  any  other  solution  would  have 
ever  been  attempted,  but  for  the  imagination  of  its  being 
called  for  to  meet  the  infidel  objection  of  Mr.  Hume,  which 
might  shortly  be  stated  thus,  That  the  world  is  a  singular 
effect.  He  says,  and  truly,  that  to  warrant  the  inference 
from  a  consequent  which  we  have  seen  to  its  antecedent 
which  we  have  not  seen,  we  must  at  some  time  or  other 
have  had  the  completed  observation  of  both.  We  must 
have  seen  both  A  and  B,  and  at  least  one  exemplification 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  m 


of  the  conjunction  between  them,  ere  that  from  either  apart 
we  can  conclude  of  the  other,  whether  it  be  an  antecedent 
or  a  consequent.  Now  we  see  the  consequent,  a  world  ; 
but  we  never  saw  the  antecedent,  a  God  who  made  the 
world,  and  of  course  never  saw  Him  employed  in  the 
making  of  it.  It  might  be  fair  enough  having  once  seen 
the  watchmaker,  and  a  watch  coming  forth  of  his  hands, 
when  we  next  see  a  watch,  to  infer  a  watchmaker.  But 
when  did  we  ever  see  a  world-maker,  or  a  world  comino- 
forth  of  his  hands  ?  To  reason  from  the  one  to  the  other, 
we  must  have  had  direct  cognizance  of  both — not  a  half 
observation  only,  but  an  indispensable  whole  observation. 
It  is  here  Mr.  Hume  contends  that  the  frailty  of  the  reason- 
ing lies  ;  and  it  is  thus  that  he  would  nullify  the  whole  of 
that  proof  for  a  God  which  lies  in  the  argumentum  a  poste- 
riori. 

18.  It  was  to  meet  this  that  both  Reid  and  Stewart  felt 
themselves  driven  to  the  necessity  of  alleging  a  separate  and 
original  principle  of  evidence,  which  before  their  time  never 
had  been  heard  of.  They  contended  that  our  inference  of 
design  or  of  a  designer  from  his  work,  is  not  grounded  on 
the  recollections  of  experience  at  all — that  it  is  not  in  fact 
an  inference,  but  an  intuition,  yet  as  deserving  of  our  con- 
fidence as  any  axiom  or  first  principle  of  reasoning — it 
being  of  the  same  rank  not  with  the  truth  that  we  land  in 
at  the  termination  of  a  logical  process,  but  higher  than  this, 
with  the  truth  from  which  we  take  our  departure  at  the 
commencement  of  it.  This  was  ti^uly  venturing  a  great 
deal.  It  was  staking  the  first  and  foremost  truth  in  natural 
religion  on  a  before  unheard  of  allegation — linking  it  with 
what  at  best  was  a  questionable  novelty,  so  in  fact  as  to 
mystify  the  argument,  and  place  on  a  basis  that  was  alto- 
gether precarious,  the  evidence  for  a  God. 

19.  Now,  for  ourselves,  we  do  not  see  the  necessity  for 
making  this  argument  other  than  experimental,  as  we  have 
amply  endeavored  to  demonstrate  in  another  place.  Let 
us  but  discriminate  between  what  is  essential  and  what  is 
accessary  in  the  two  terms  of  a  casual  succession,  and  we . 


112  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

shall  find  that  there  is  no  singularity  whatever  in  that  which 
we  see  in  a  world,  and  upon  which  we  ground  the  infer- 
ence of  a  designing  and  intelligent  Maker.  For  you  will 
observe  that  it  is  not  upon  a  whole  world,  but  upon  a 
something  in  the  world  that  the  inference  is  grounded.  It 
is  true  that  we  have  never  seen  a  whole  world  made,  but 
we  have  seen,  times  and  ways  without  number,  a  some- 
thing made  or  done  which  is  in  the  world,  and  from  which 
something  alone  we  infer  that  it  had  an  intelligent  Maker. 
To  illustrate  our  meaning,  it  is  not  from  all  which  is  in,  or 
all  which  is  of  and  belonging  to  a  watch  that  we  infer  a 
watchmaker.  It  is  not  because  in  one  part  of  this  mechan- 
ism you  see  gold,  and  in  another  silver,  and  in  a  third  steeJ, 
and  in  a  fourth  glass ;  or,  in  other  words,  it  is  not  because 
of  its  materials  that  you  infer  a  maker.  Neither  is  it  be- 
cause of  the  various  properties  which  fall  under  your 
notice  when  you  contemplate  this  workmanship — as  the 
elasticity  of  one  part,  or  the  transparency  of  another,  or 
the  flexibility  of  a  third,  or  the  different  weights  and  colors 
of  its  different  materials  ;  or,  in  other  words,  it  is  not  be- 
cause of  mere  properties  or  powers  which  reside  in  the 
watch  that  you  infer  a  maker  for  it.  You  do  not  accredit 
the  author  of  this  piece  of  art  either  with  the  creation  of 
its  matter,  or  the  establishing  of  any  of  those  laws  which 
have  to  do  with  the  performance  of  its  evolutions  and  the 
result  of  them — for  if  the  machine  were  taken  down,  and 
its  fragments  huddled  at  random  into  a  little  chaos,  then 
with  the  same  matter  and  the  same  properties  as  before, 
all  the  marks  of  contrivance  would  vanish,  and  nothing  be 
left  to  indicate  a  contriver.  Now,  what  precisely  is  it  that 
has  disappeared  so  as  to  obliterate  the  evidence  for  design 
in  this  fabrication ;  or  what  must  be  done  with  the  various 
pieces  now  lying  confused  and  in  chance-medley  before  us, 
to  restore  the  indication  at  one  time  so  palpable  of  a  de- 
signer's hand?  We  have  just  to  set  it  up  in  the  same  order, 
by  placing  part  to  part  in  the  same  relation  as  before.  We 
have  neither  to  produce  the  matter,  nor  yet  to  ordain  its 
properties.     We  have  only  to  fashion  and  arrange  the 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  113 

matter ;  and  in  its  dispositions  alone,  in  the  collocation  of 
parts  by  which  certain  means  are  adapted  to  some  certain 
end,  in  this,  and  this  precisely,  do  we  infer  the  characters 
of  design  in  a  watch,  and  from  this  infer  that  a  designer's 
mind  and  a  designer's  hand  were  concerned  in  the  forma- 
tion of  it.  It  is  not  on  a  whole  watch  that  the  inference  is 
based  ;  it  is  on  a  something  in  the  watch,  and  that  some- 
thing is  the  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end.  Now,  there  is 
nothing  singular  in  this.  So  far  from  a  rare  and  unexam- 
pled procedure,  it  is  one  that  we  witness  every  day,  and 
in  conjunction  too  with  the  cause  which  gives  it  birth — a 
purposing  mind  which  aims  at  some  given  object,  and  for 
the  fulfillment  of  that  object,  sets  fit  things  in  fit  places. 
The  whole  matter  is  familiar  as  household  words,  at  least 
as  daily  and  hourly  household  acts — as  the  placing,  for  ex- 
ample, of  the  fire-irons  beside  the  chimney,  or  of  dishes  on 
the  table,  and  of  chairs  for  the  company  to  sit  around  it ; 
or  of  books  and  papers  and  implements  of  writing  on  the 
desk  that  is  before  you ;  or  of  clothes  in  a  wardrobe ;  or 
of  a  thousand  other  distributions  of  order  and  convenience, 
to  which  every  apartment  in  our  dwelling-places  bears  wit- 
ness, and  every  shelf  along  its  walls.  The  only  difference 
between  these  and  implements  or  machines  is,  that  where- 
as the  parts  of  the  former,  of  the  products  that  come  from 
the  hands  of  our  menial  servants,  are  laid  out  loosely, 
though  in  order,  to  serve  some  brief  temporary  purpose — 
the  parts,  of  the  latter,  of  the  products  that  come  from  the 
hands  of  our  artisan,  are  laid  out  in  order  too,  but  fastened 
and  fixed  together  so  as  to  form  a  useful  instrument  for 
some  use  or  other  that  may  last  for  years.  In  either  way, 
the  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end  is  one  of  the  most  famil- 
iar and  oft-repeated  consequents  which  fall  under  the  ob- 
servation of  every  man,  and  that  too  in  conjunction  with 
the  antecedent  purposes  and  doings  of  some  one  who  put 
together  the  means  with  a  view  to  the  end.  So  that  when 
we  see  it  in  a  watch,  we  are  presented  with  no  novelty ; 
and  it  is  on  the  basis  of  a  most  manifold  and  multiplied 
experience  that  we  infer  not,  we  repeat,  from  the  whole 


114  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

watch,  but  from  this  which  is  in  the  watch,  a  contriver  and 
a  maker  for  it. 

20.  And  as  of  watch-making,  so  of  world-making.  We 
never  saw  the  production  of  that  whole  assemblage  called 
a  world,  which  in  its  totality  therefore  is  to  us  a  singular 
effect.  But  we  can  break  up  this  totality.  We  can  detach 
in  succession  those  parts  from  it  which  do  not  belong  to 
our  main  argument,  or  scarcely  enter  into  our  considera- 
tion at  all  when  reasoning  for  a  God,  till  we  arrive  at  that 
in  which  chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  lies  the  burden  of  the 
argument.  It  is  not  on  the  matter  of  the  world  that  we 
rest  our  conclusion.  It  is  very  Jittle  on  the  laws  of  this 
matter.  But  they  are  its  dispositions  which  form  nearly 
the  all  in  all  of  our  demonstration — even  those  dispositions 
which  present  us,  in  countless  thousands  and  endless  varie- 
ty, with  the  adaptations  of  means  to  ends.  This  act  of 
adapting  means  to  ends  is  what  we  do  ourselves,  and 
see  others  doing  every  day ;  and  in  every  instance  of 
such  adaptation,  viewed  as  a  consequent,  and  when  we 
have  access  to  the  antecedent  which  gave  it  birth,  we 
uniformly  find  that  it  was  a  purposing  mind  which  descried 
the  end  and  suggested  the  means  which  had  been  put  to- 
gether for  its  accomplishment.  So  far  then  from  being 
without  experience,  when  we  refer  the  adaptations  of  the 
world  to  a  God ;  and  still  more,  so  far  from  experience 
being  against  a  God,  the  denied  of  a  God  were  against  all 
our  experience.  The  world  viewed  as  an  aggregate  is  a 
singular  effect ;  but  that  which  is  in  the  world,  adaptation 
of  means  to  an  end,  is  not  singular.  And  it  is  by  fastening 
our  attention  upon  this  as  the  only  essential  consequent 
whicli  we  have  to  do  with  in  our  advocacy  for  a  God,  that 
we  dispose  effectually  of  the  difficulty  thus  thrown  in  the 
way.  We  stand  in  no  need  of  any  peculiar  or  original 
principle  to  help  us  out  of  it.  The  recollections  of  our 
daily  experience  are  quite  sufficient  to  warrant  the  con- 
clusion ;  and  it  is  satisfactory  to  think,  that  as  by  putting 
out  of  consideration  both  the  existence  of  matter  and  its 
laws,  and  limiting  our  view  to  its  collocations  alone,  we 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  115 

make  an  escape  from  much  of  the  obscure  and  questionable 
metaphysics  which  have  been  put  forth  on  the  side  of 
theism,  so  it  is  by  the  same  hmitation  that  we  are  enabled 
to  meet  the  most  formidable  objection  ever  constructed  by 
atheism  against  the  existence  of  a  Deity. 

21.  It  requires  thought  and  the  exercise  of  some  discrimi- 
nation to  detect  this  sophism.  It  might  be  felt  that  the 
refutation  is  still  imperfect  and  must  ever  remain  so,  not 
only  because  we  have  never  seen  a  world  made,  but  be- 
cause we  have  never  seen  the  very  collocations  which  are 
in  the  w^orld,  and  on  which  we  frame  our  argument,  actual- 
ly put  together  by  any  artificer  who  devised  them.  We 
never  saw,  for  example,  the  setting  up  in  this  way  of  such 
collocations  as  those  of  an  insect  or  a  flower ;  and  so  the 
imagination  might  still  keep  its  ground  that  unless  we  have 
seen  these  identical  things  springing  forth  of  a  designer's 
hand,  we  cannot  reason  either  from  the  one  or  other  for 
the  wisdom  in  which  they  originated.  But  it  is  not  on  the 
adaptation  for  the  ends  of  these  particular  formations  that 
our  reasoning  is  essentially  founded.  Enough  if  there  be 
in  each  of  them  adaptation  for  an  end,  for  any  end.  It  is 
this  last  which  we  eliminate  from  the  group  of  accessories 
by  which  it  might  be  encompassed,  and  hold  forth  as  being 
strictly  and  precisely  that  posterior  term  whereof  the  prior 
term  is  an  intelligent  author.  It  is  true  that  we  never  saw 
the  adaptations  of  any  natural  mechanism  springing  forth 
of  a  contriver's  hand,  any  more  than  we  ever  saw  the 
making  of  a  world.  But  as  Uttle,  it  may  be,  did  we  ever 
see  the  making  of  a  watch ;  and  we  should  therefore  be 
subjected  to  the  very  same  disadvantage  in  that  we  had 
never  witnessed  the  formation  of  an  instrument  for  the 
measurement  of  time.  But  the  measurement  of  time  is  not 
only  the  end,  it  is  also  an  end ;  and  adaptation  for  an  end 
is  that  of  which  we  have  seen  many  thousand  exemplifica- 
tions. We  have  only  to  make  this  further  abstraction 
from  the  end  to  an  end,  to  get  at  the  only  essential  conse- 
quent on  which  the  inference  is  founded.  It  is  true  that 
we  may  never  have  seen  a  watch  made,  but  we  have  seen 


116  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

that  which  is  in  the  watch — adaptation  for  an  end,  along 
too  with  its  prior  term,  or  the  antecedent  design  in  which 
it  originated,  a  thousand  times  over.  It  is  enough  that  of 
this  last  we  have  had  the  constant  and  manifold  experience ; 
and  thus  we  can  pronounce  on  an  infinity  of  things  as  hav- 
ing sprung  from  design,  though,  in  their  aggregate  totality, 
we  had  never  once  seen  them  in  the  hands  of  a  maker — be 
it  a  watch,  or  a  plough,  or  a  gun-lock,  or  a  steam-engine, 
or  a  spinning-mill,  or,  finally,  a  world.  Each  of  these  may 
be  to  us  a  singular  effect,  when  viewed  as  a  whole ;  but 
there  is  that  enveloped  in  each  on  which  alone  the  argu- 
ment essentially  hinges,  and  in  which  there  is  no  singular- 
ity. In  order  to  find  it,  though  we  should  never  have 
witnessed  the  production  of  any  of  them,  we  have  but  to 
look  at  the  products  themselves — to  inspect  their  various 
mechanisms,  and  there  see  in  each  the  manifest  subservien- 
cy to  some  end  or  other  of  their  respective  collocations. 
So  it  is  that  although  we  never  saw  a  watch  made,  we 
infer  the  watch-maker;  and  so  it  is  that,  although  we  never 
saw  a  world  made,  we  infer  the  world-maker.  We  were 
not  present  to  witness  the  event  when  our  universe  arose 
at  the  mandate  of  its  Creator ;  yet  is  it  a  universe  which 
holds  forth  to  present  and  palpable  observation  the  insignia 
of  its  origin.  Adaptation  to  an  end,  that  character  with 
the  reading  and  interpretation  of  which  we  have  been 
familiar  from  infancy,  is  inscribed  on  it  everywhere ;  and 
from  the  simple  relations  which  obtain  among  the  orbs  that 
roll  above,  to  the  manifold  and  multiform  relations  of  use- 
fulness among  the  parts  of  animals  and  vegetables  below, 
do  we  behold  all  nature  instinct  with  the  mind  of  a  Divini- 
ty— all  teeming  and  alive  with  the  evidences  of  a  God. 

22.  It  is  satisfactory  to  rescue  this  argument  from  the 
mysticism  which  had  involved  it ;  and,  at  the  tribunal  of 
experience,  to  obtain  for  it  the  verdict  of  those  ordinary 
principles  on  which  we  judge  and  reason  every  day  of  our 
lives. 


CHAPTER  II. 

PROOFS  FROM  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  HUMAN  MIND,  AND 
FROM  ITS  RELATIONS  TO  EXTERNAL  NATURE,  FOR  THE  BEING 
AND  CHARACTER  OF  GOD. 

1.  When  we  look  to  the  mind  singly,  and  with  the  view 
of  finding  in  its  constitution  the  evidence  for  a  God — if  we 
succeed  at  all,  we  shall  find  that,  generally  speaking,  it  is 
evidence  of  wholly  another  sort  from  that  which  hitherto 
we  have  been  employed  in  contemplating.  The  evidence 
presented  in  the  world  of  matter  is  mainly  founded  on  com- 
bination— the  combination  of  a  number  of  distinct  parts  or 
circumstances,  the  meeting  together  of  which  subserves 
some  end  of  obvious  utility,  and  which  utility  would  be 
greatly  impaired,  if  not  altogether  defeated,  by  the  want  or 
withdrawment  of  any  one  of  these  circumstances.  It  is 
quite  clear  that  the  more  numerous  they  are,  the  more  un- 
likely it  is  that  they  should  have  met  fortuitously ;  and  hence 
that  every  addition  to  their  number  must  enhance  the  evi- 
dence of  their  having  met  designedly  and  not  at  random,  or 
under  the  direction  of  a  purposing  mind  which  ordered  the 
concurrence  of  so  many  things  for  the  sake  of  that  result- 
ing and  useful  fulfillment  which  ensues  from  it.  They 
might  be  so  many  as  to  make  it  the  most  violent  of  all  im- 
probabilities that  they  should  have  come  together  blindly 
or  by  chance,  yet  so  as  that  some  manifestly  desirable  end 
should  be  obtained  by  the  conjunction  of  them.  And  this 
is  the  great  use  in  theology  of  those  complex  and  organic 
structures  which  so  abound  in  the  material  world,  and  which, 
in  proportion  to  their  complexity,  or  to  the  vast  number  of 
separate  parts  and  conditions  that  enter  into  the  formation 
of  them,  are  all  the  more  pregnant  with  the  evidence  for  a 
God. 

2.  Now  this  is  not  the  kind  of  evidence  that  we  should 


118  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

look  for  in  the  constitution  or  in  the  phenomena  of  the  mind 
— that  mind  which  many  conceive  to  be  a  simple  and  indi- 
visible unit.  But  without  venturing  to  speculate  on  the 
substance  of  mind,  let  us  take  account  of  any  of  its  phe- 
nomena— as,  for  example,  the  compassion  that  is  felt  on  the 
sight  of  distress.  We  are  here  presented  with  a  simple 
sequence  of  two  terms — first,  the  perception  of  another's 
misery,  and  then  the  pity  that  is  felt;  and  this  is  all  the 
cognizance  that  we  can  take  of  it.  There  is  here  little  or 
no  combination,  but  of  two  things  at  most — the  sight  of  an 
object  and  its  consequent  emotion,  a  simple  succession  ;  but 
which,  simple  though  it  be,  well-nigh  exhausts  all  the  de- 
scription that  we  can  offer  of  the  share  which  the  mind  has 
in  this  result.  In  this  respect  it  stands  widely  contrasted 
with  the  share  which  the  body,  through  its  organ  of  seeing, 
has  had  in  it ;  and  perhaps  there  cannot  a  better  example 
be  given  of  the  difference  in  question  between  the  mental 
and  the  material,  than  when  we  contemplate  the  simple 
phenomenon  of  vision  in  the  mind,  and  the  anterior  process 
of  vision  as  carried  forward  and  modified  in  that  curious, 
elaborate,  and  highly  complex  organ,  the  eye — in  which 
alone  it  will  be  found,  on  the  principle  of  chances,  that  there 
is  a  million-fold  greater  amount  of  that  evidence  which  is 
founded  on  combination,  than  is  yielded  by  the  mere  appo- 
sition of  these  two  things — first,  the  sight  of  a  certain  object, 
and  then  the  sensibility  that  ensues  from  it.  If  here  we 
have  any  of  that  evidence  at  all  which  lies  in  the  adaptation 
of  part  to  part,  we  have  none  at  least  of  that  multiple  evi- 
dence which  is  yielded  by  every  addition  to  the  number  of 
them.  It  will  be  found  then,  that  matter  far  outpeers  mind  in 
that  evidence  for  a  God  which  is  grounded  on  combination. 
3.  Yet  mind,  too,  has  an  evidence  of  its  own,  though  of  a 
different  sort,  perhaps  logically  as  strong,  and  at  all  events 
influentially  far  more  effective,  than  that  which  science  has 
laid  open  in  the  organizations  of  the  material  world.  It 
even  admits  of  being  stated  numerically,  though  when  sub- 
jected to  this  kind  of  computation,  it  would  seem  to  fall 
indefinitely  short  of  the  other ;  for  the  whole  value  of  it 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  ug 

cannot  fitly  or  adequately  be  represented  by  numbers.  Yet 
to  a  certain  extent  it  can.  For,  going  back  to  our  former 
instance,  by  a  very  general  law  of  mind,  though  liable  at 
times  to  be  disturbed  and  modified,  the  sight  of  distress  is 
followed  up  by  a  sense  of  compassion  and  the  desire  to  re- 
lieve it.  Now  we  can  imagine  it  to  have  been  otherwise — 
that  the  sight  of  distress  should  be  followed  up  by  the 
savage  delight  of  cruelty,  and  a  desire  to  aggravate  and 
enhance  it.  Or  there  might  have  been  still  a  different  law. 
Our  nature  might  have  been  so  constituted  that  the  spectacle 
awakened  in  us  no  emotion  whatever,  but  could  be  gazed 
upon  with  downright  apathy  or  indifference.  Here  then 
are  three  varieties ;  and  that  the  one  out  of  these  three 
should  have  been  selected  which  is  most  accordant,  with 
our  notions  of  a  benevolent  God,  affords  a  sort  of  aritli- 
metical  evidence  for  a  Being  of  this  exalted  and  amiable 
character  having  had  to  do  with  the  formation  of  our  world 
and  of  those  who  live  in  it.  But  we  shall  drop  this  con- 
sideration— for  the  strength  of  the  evidence  on  which  we 
are  now  to  enter  is  a  thing  to  be  felt  rather  than  calculated. 
When  we  view  the  phenomena  of  mind  in  connection  with 
the  question  of  a  God,  we  cannot  but  feel  that  there  is  an 
evidence  in  these  which  outruns  arithmetic,  and  seeks  no 
aid  from  such  computations  as  those  on  which  we  have 
proceeded  hitherto.  It  seems  to  leave  all  reasoning  behind 
it — though  we  cannot  but  think  that  there  is  a  reasoning, 
though  it  may  be  only  of  one  step,  by  which  the  conclusion 
is  arrived  at.  The  interrogations  of  the  psalmist — He  who 
formed  the  eye,  shall  He  not  see  1  He  who  planted  the  ear, 
shall  He  not  hear  ?  He  who  gave  man  understanding,  shall 
He  not  know  ? — are  all  of  them  so  many  acts  of  reasoning, 
which  require  time  for  their  utterance'  by  the  mouth,  but 
which  in  the  mind  itself  are  performed  with  almost  the 
speed  and  certainty  of  consciousness.  When  we  try  to 
assign  an  origin  for  mind  and  its  various  phenomena,  we 
cannot  but  refer,  as  if  by  the  tact  of  an  immediate  sympathy, 
to  an  anterior  mind  which  gave  birth  to  this  product  of  its 
own  likeness,  and  stamped  its  own  qualities  thereupon.     It 


120  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

might  seem  to  be  an  intuition,  though  in  reality  it  be  an  in- 
ference ;  and  we  are  all  the  more  helped  to  it  by  our  sense 
of  the  utter  discrepancy  between  mind  and  matter,  and  our 
experience  of  the  wide  interval  which  separates  all  the 
combinations  and  forces  of  the  one,  whether  in  their  results 
or  tendencies,  from  all  the  feelings  and  faculties  which 
belong  to  the  other.  If  apart  from  the  established  lines  of 
transmission,  and  all  of  which  have  demonstrably  had  a 
commencement,  we  never  saw  the  least  approximation 
made  to  an  organic  being  by  all  the  powers  and  elements 
of  matter  however  blended — then  most  certainly,  and  with 
still  greater  emphasis,  may  it  be  said  that  we  never  saw,  in 
the  working  of  these  same  elements  and  powers,  the  slight- 
est tendency  or  movement  towards  the  formation,  even  in 
rudest  embryo,  of  a  thinking  creature. 

4.  And  first  and  foremost  of  all  those  mental  phenomena, 
which  tell  most  promptly  and  most  audibly  for  a  God,  is  the 
felt  movement  or  voice  of  a  conscience  within  us — that 
faculty  which  assumes  a  direction  or  mastery  over  the 
whole  man ;  and  amid  the  wild  uproar  of  our  inferior  yet 
powerful  and  headlong  propensities,  causes  itself  to  be  heard 
as  one  having  authority.  We  do  not  say  that  at  all  times 
it  causes  itself  to  be  obeyed  ;  but  obedience  is  that  to  which, 
if  it  cannot  enforce,  it  at  least  claims  ;  and  the  rightfulness 
of  the  claim,  whether  it  be  yielded  to  or  not,  is  at  least 
deferred  to  and  recognized  by  all  men.  When  conscience 
tells  us  what  we  ought,  we  feel  that  it  is  what  we  owe  ;  or, 
in  other  words,  we  owe  the  debt,  a  debt  of  fealty  and  sub- 
jection, whether  we  pay  the  debt  or  not;  and  like  the 
creditor  who  perhaps  cannot  exact  his  dues,  he  can  upbraid 
the  debtor  who  withholds  them,  and  speak  to  him  the 
language  of  reproach  and  remonstrance  in  return  for  his 
wrong.  And  he  can  do  more  than  reprimand ;  he  can  at 
one  time  punish  our  disobedience  with  the  inflictions  of 
remorse,  just  as  at  another  he  can  reward  our  obedience 
with  the  feehngs  of  complacency — and  thus  perform  within 
our  breast  all  the  offices  of  a  judge  and  of  a  lawgiver.  We 
need  not  wonder  that  the  felt  presence  of  a  monitor  who 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY  ]C'l 

can  thus  lift  a  voice  of  warning,  and  inflict  the  vengeance 
of  an  offended  sovereign  if  v^e  do  not  listen  to  it,  should 
with  so  much  force  and  readiness  suggest  the  idea,  and 
more  than  this,  we  doubt  not,  the  conviction — the  firm,  yea 
the  sound  and  warrantable  conviction,  of  a  God — based, 
too,  on  an  argumentum  a  posteriori  ;  and  if  not  the  result  of 
an  inferential  process,  since  to  be  a  process  it  must  consist 
of  several  steps,  yet  as  good  as  this,  an  instant  conclusion 
of  the  mind,  and  which  comes  to  us  as  if  with  the  speed  of 
lightning,  in  the  course  of  one  rapid  transition  from  the 
feeling  of  a  judge  within  the  breast,  to  the  faith  of  a  judge 
and  a  maker  who  placed  it  there.  This  internal  evidence 
outweighs  in  impression,  and  perhaps  also  in  real  and  sub- 
stantive validity,  all  the  external  evidence  that  lies  in  those 
characters  of  design  which  are  so  variously  and  volumin- 
ously inscribed  on  the  face  of  the  material  world.  It  has 
found  an  access  for  itself  to  all  bosoms.  We  have  not  to 
look  abroad  for  it,  but  it  is  felt  by  each  man  within  the  little 
homestead  of  his  own  heart;  and  this  theology  of  con- 
science has  done  more  to  uphold  a  sense  of  God  in  the 
world  than  all  the  theology  of  academic  demonstration.* 

5.  But  though  conscience  be  the  great  master-phenome- 
non or  faculty  wherewith  to  build  up  a  natural  theism — yet 
is  mind  replete  with  other  evidence,  worthy  at  least  of  being 
stated,  however  short  in  practical  influence,  of  that  voice 
within,  which  is  the  first  and  greatest  witness  for  a  God. 
Next  in  authority,  however,  to  this  greatest  of  all  our 
vouchers  for  a  divinity,  may  be  regarded  those  two  coun- 
terpart phenomena  whereof  we  have  the  undoubted  experi- 
ence— a  very  intimate  and  familiar  experience  too — we 
mean  the  happiness  attendant  on  the  exercise  of  good  affec- 
tions, and,  corresponding  to  this,  the  misery  attendant  on 
the  working  and  the  indulgence  of  bad  ones.  It  is  not  of 
the  complacency  that  follows,  whether  the  sensations  or  the 
acts  of  kindness,  nor  yet  is  it  of  the  self-dissatisfaction  that 
follows  the  sensations,  still  more  the  outbreakings,  of  ma- 

*  The  supremacy  of  conscience  the  greatest  and  most  influential  argument 
for  the  being  of  God. — 1  John  iii.  20;  John  viii.  9;  Acts  xxiii.  1 ;  xxiv.  16. 
VOL.    VII. F 


122  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

levolence  and  anger,  that  we  now  speak  ;  for  these,  as  being 
the  sanctions  wherewith  conscience  enforces  her  dictates, 
form  an  integral  part  of  her  testimony  for  a  God ;  but, 
distinct  from  this,  we  speak  of  the  pleasure  on  the  one  hand, 
and  pain  on  the  other,  of  the  very  sensations  themselves — 
the  former  being  sweet  to  the  taste  of  the  inner  man,  and 
the  latter  having  in  them  the  bitterness  of  gall  and  worm- 
wood. For  besides  the  self-approval  and  the  remorse, 
both  of  which  are  retrospective,  there  is  an  immediate 
sweetness  in  the  mere  presence  or  contact  of  a  benevolent 
feeling,  and  a  bitterness,  as  distinct  and  immediate  too,  in 
the  fiery  agitations  or  brooding  purposes  of  malice  and 
revenge.  And  the  same  holds  true  of  all  the  other  virtues 
and  their  opposite  vices.  It  is  not  the  mere  consciousness 
of  integrity  and  honor  which  forms  all  the  pleasure  that  lies 
in  the  exercise  or  possession  of  these  moralities  :  but  there 
is  a  certain  ethereal  and  unclouded  satisfaction,  as  if  one 
breathed  a  clearer  and  healthier  atmosphere,  in  the  morali- 
ties themselves.  And  in  like  manner,  it  is  not  the  sense  of 
self-degradation  which  constitutes  all  the  discomfort  that 
one  feels  in  plying  the  low  arts  of  deception  or  dishonesty; 
but  in  the  very  element  itself,  call  it  of  fraudulency  or  false- 
hood, there  is  that  dissonancy  between  the  belief  of  the 
inner  and  the  professions  of  the  outer  man,  which  of  itself 
is  directly  adverse  to  the  day-light  and  harmony  of  the  soul. 
And  the  same  holds  of  purity  or  temperance  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  ignoble  subjection  of  our  better  nature,  on  the 
other,  to  the  solicitations  of  a  tyrant  appetite — or  of  the 
contrast  which  obtains  between  the  untroubled  serenity  of 
a  mind  that  wields  the  mastery  over  all  its  inferior  affections, 
and  that  chaos  of  turbulence  and  disorder  into  which  the 
same  mind  is  thrown  when  tost  and  tempest-driven  in  the 
anarchy  of  those  various  passions  which  it  is  unable  to  con- 
trol. In  the  peace  and  enjoyment  of  the  good  affections 
there  is  a  very  present  reward,  in  the  disquietude  and  agony 
of  the  evil  affections  there  is  a  very  present  vengeance  ; 
and  connecting  such  a  regimen  with  the  character  of  Him 
who  ordained  it,  we  should  infer  that  we  lived  under  the 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  123 

administration  of  a  God  who  loved  righteousness  and  who 
hated  iniquity.* 

6.  It  is  obvious  that  were  the  views  of  an  inquirer  after 
God  confined  to  the  material  world,  he  could  infer  nothing 
from  all  that  he  saw  as  to  the  moral,  but  only  as  to  the 
natural  attributes  of  its  maker.  There  might  be  works 
both  of  exquisite  contrivance  and  stupendous  greatness 
which  bespoke  the  power  and  skill  of  the  artificer  who 
framed  them  ;  but  apart  from  life  and  mind,  or  in  a  mere 
system  of  inanimate  things,  where  there  could  be  no  room 
for  the  display  either  of  his  regard  for  happiness  or  of  his 
regard  for  virtue,  of  which  all  things  below,  as  being  with- 
out sensations  and  without  sentiments,  were  alike  incapable 
' — it  is  obvious  that  we  could  gather  no  indication  whatever 
of  either  the  benevolence  of  a  parent  or  the  righteousness 
of  a  sovereign.  If  he  lived  in  a  house  but  without  a  family 
— rthen  our  only  lessons  could  be  drawn  from  the  structure 
of  the  one,  and  none  from  his  treatment  of  the  other ;  or 
while  the  abundant  manifestations  both  of  strength  and  of 
intelligence  might  thus  be  given,  there  would  still  be  no 
vestiges  by  which  to  tell  either  of  the  beneficence  by  which 
he  gladdened  the  hearts  of  his  creatures,  or  of  the  justice 
and  love  of  virtue  that  characterized  his  administration  over 
them.  It  is  only  now,  then,  that  we  have  entered  on  that 
department  in  the  creation  around  us,  whence  we  can  infer 
aught  as  to  the  moral  character  of  Him  in  whom  it  may 
have  originated,  and  by  whom  its  laws  and  processes  may 
have  been  ordained.  We  can  only  judge  of  this  from  the 
way  in  which  he  deals  with  creatures  possessed  of  life,  or 
who  themselves  are  capable,  whether  of  the  right  or  wrong  in 
character.  Should  we  discover,  in  the  actual  constitution 
of  things,  a  manifest  subserviency  to  their  enjoyment ;  or 
still  more,  that,  in  general,  happiness  went  along  with  rec- 
titude, and  that  misery  was  the  usual  attendant  upon  its 
violations — we  should  hence  infer  a  reigning  benevolence 

*  The  pleasure  attendant  on  good  affections  or  deeds,  and  the  pain  attend- 
ant on  bad  ones,  form  an  evidence  for  a  God  who  loveth  righteousness  and 
hateth  iniquity. — ^Fsalm  xix.  1 1 ;  Prov.  xi.  30 ;  Is.  Ivii.  20. 


124  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

or  a  reigning  justice  in  the  administration  of  the  universe ; 
but  as  neither  of  these  perfections  in  the  abstract  could, 
any  more  than  an  abstract  wisdom,  have  given  rise  to  a 
concrete  world — we  should  reason  from  a  character  to  a 
being,  and  so  arrive  at  the  conclusion  of  a  wise  and  just 
and  benevolent  Creator,  by  whom  these  various  perfections 
were  realized. 

7.  We  have  already,  in  looking  to  the  mental  constitution 
by  itself,  or  singly  to  one  mind  as  apart  from  its  relations 
either  to  all  other  minds,  or  to  external  nature — we  have 
already  taken  notice  of  certain  principles  or  tendencies 
within  us,  from  whence  we  might  infer  the  greater  hkelihood 
of  our  having  proceeded  from  the  hands  of  a  good  and 
righteous,  rather  than  from  the  hands  of  an  unjust  or  a 
malevolent  God.  The  most  decisive  indication  of  this  is 
given  by  the  lessons  of  conscience,  which  might  well  be 
regarded  as  the  laws  of  Him  who  planted  this  monitor  in 
every  bosom,  and  as  interpretative  therefore  of  the  will,  and 
so  of  the  moral  nature  of  the  Lawgiver.  And,  generally,  it 
will  be  allowed  that  these  lessons  are  on  the  side  of  humanity 
and  truth  and  uprightness  and  temperance,  which  charac- 
teristics might  be  carried  upward  to  Him  who  deposited 
this  natural  law  in  the  heart  of  man,  and  which  not  only 
serves  for  the  authoritative  guidance  of  our  conduct,  but  on 
which,  as  upon  an  inscribed  tablet,  we  may  read  what  be 
the  virtues  of  the  Godhead.  Its  dictates  and  its  prohibitions 
are  alike  the  indices  of  what  He  loves,  and  of  what  He 
hates;  and  they  tell  us  at  once  of  His  preference  for  all  that 
is  good,  and  His  antipathy  to  all  that  is  evil.  And  besides 
the  evidence  which  lies  in  the  mandates  of  conscience,  there 
is  a  distinct  and  additional  evidence  in  the  inherent  pleasure 
of  the  acts  or  affections  which  it  enjoins,  and  the  inherent 
misery  of  the  acts  or  affections  which  it  forbids :  and  this 
over  and  above  the  complacency  which  attends  our  review 
and  retrospect  of  the  one,  and  that  agonizing  remorse  which 
attends  our  review  and  retrospect  of  the  other.  We  have 
thus  a  multiple  evidence  in  favor  of  the  love  which  God 
bears  to  virtue-^first,  in  the  biddings  of  conscience ;  sec- 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  125 

ondly,  in  the  sweets  of  an  approving  retrospect;  and  thirdly 
in  the  present  agreeableness  to  the  taste  of  the  inner  man, 
whether  of  the  deeds  or  the  desires  of  righteousness.  We 
have  the  precise  counterparts  of  these,  and  which  combine 
into  an  evidence  alike  strong  for  the  hatred  that  God  bears 
to  wickedness.  This  triple  sanction  for  the  observance  of 
morality  on  the  one  hand,  and  against  the  violation  of  it  on 
the  other,  speaks  forcibly  for  the  kind  of  regimen  under 
which  we  sit,  and  so  for  the  character  of  Him  who  hath 
ordained  it — the  regimen  or  administration  of  a  God  who  is 
the  patron  of  all  virtue,  and  of  all  vice  the  enemy  and  the 
avenger. 

8.  But  these  indications  brighten  and  multiply  on  our 
hands,  when,  instead  of  looking  to  one  mind  apart  we  look 
on  the  relations  between  mind  and  mind,  or  to  their  recip- 
rocal influences  and  bearings  on  each  other.  For  if  good- 
will on  the  one  hand  be  a  pleasurable  sensation,  alike  so  on 
the  other  is  the  gratitude  that  is  awakened  by  it.  If  there 
be  a  felt  comfort  and  clearness  in  the  sense  that  one  has  of 
Jiis  own  integrity,  there  is  a  pleasure  also  on  the  part  of 
others  in  the  sentiments  of  respect  and  confidence  which 
-they  award  to  it ;  and  thence  again  a  tertiary  pleasure  in 
the  breast  of  him  who  to  the  enjoyment  which  lies  in  the 
consciousness  of  his  own  worth  and  honors,  superadds  the 
enjoyment  which  lies  in  the  esteem  of -his  fellows ;  and  this 
again  reflected  upon  them  in  his  cordial  acknowledgment 
for  their  expressions  of  reverence  and  regard,  whether 
reiidered  to  him  by  assembled  citizens  in  some  formal  and 
collective  testimony,  or  showered  along  his  daily  and  famil- 
iar path  in  the  salutations  of  the  street  and  of  the  market- 
place. There  is  altogether  a  prodigious  amount  of  happiness 
in  the  play  and  reciprocation  of  these  social  virtues,  in  the 
demonstrations  of  mutual  regard,  whether  amid  the  settled 
affections  of  home,  or  even  on  the  wayside,  as  evinced  by 
the  passing  smiles  and  recognitions  of  our  daily  companion- 
ship. And  there  is  a  like  multiplying  and  repeating  process 
in  the  counterpart  misery  which  is  worked  off*  throughout 
every  aggregate  of  human  beings  by  the  acting  and  re-act- 


126  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ing  of  the  bad  affections^ — by  looks  of  mutual  hostility  or 
disdain ;  by  violence  or  injustice  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
fierce  outcries  of  resentment  on  the  other;  by  the  war  even 
of  words  only,  the  strife  of  tongues,  apart  from  all  injury 
either  to  property  or  person;  by  the  heart-burnings  of 
emulation  among  families ;  the  manifestations  of  contempt 
or  hatred ;  the  dark  and  brooding  purposes  of  revenge. 
There  is  enough  in  moral  elements  alone  to  make  a  heaven 
or  a  hell  of  two  distinct  societies ;  and  if  our  nature  be  so 
constituted,  as  that  universal  virtue  would  give  rise  to  an 
earthly  paradise,  and  universal  vice  to  an  earthly  pande- 
monium, let  reason  tell  the  greater  of  the  two  likelihoods, 
or  whether  we  have  been  originally  fashioned  by  the  hands 
of  a  righteous  or  by  the  hands  of  an  unrighteous  God. 

9.  And  this  seems  the  right  place  for  considering  the 
difficulty  under  which  natural  theology  lies,  when  called  to 
account  for  the  misei'ies  of  life  ;  and  when  triumphantly 
asked  by  skeptics  and  unbelievers — why,  under  a  regimen 
of  perfect  benevolence,  there  should  be  any  misery  at  all. 
We  cannot  offer  a  full  or  absolute  reply  to  this  question ; 
but  we  think  it  can  be  far  more  satisfactorily  disposed  of 
than  by  the  reply  which  is  commonly  given.  There  are 
many  who,  as  Paley  and  others,  attempt  to  strike  a  sort  of 
arithmetical  balance  between  the  good  and  ill  of  our  world 
— between  the  amount  of  its  enjoyments  on  the  one  hand, 
and  its  sufferings  on  the  other ;  and  who,  in  the  great  supe- 
riority or  overplus  of  the  former  would  ground  their  vindi- 
cation of  the  divine  benevolence  in  the  face  of  all  those 
undoubted  pains  and  calamities  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  We 
do  not  feel  the  strength  of  this  reasoning.  In  the  first  place, 
we  are  not  sure  of  the  computation.  We  should  imagine  it 
exceedingly  difficult,  nay  impracticable,  to  form  aught  like 
a  precise  estimate,  ffi'st  of  the  felicities,  and  then  of  the  dis- 
tresses of  life ;  and  then  to  take  the  summation  of  each  so 
as  to  come  at  the  difference  betwixt  them.  We  have  no 
faith  in  a  calculation  grounded  on  data  of  so  much  uncer- 
tainty :  and  even  though  we  had — though  presented  with 
demonstrative  evidence  for  a  vast  excess  on  the  brighter 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  127 

side  of  this  comparison — the  mystery  were  far  from  being 
dissipated,  or  the  difficulty  which  has  now  been  started 
were  far  from  set  at  rest.  The  question  would  perpetually 
recur — why,  under  a  government  of  boundless  power  and 
perfect  goodness,  there  should  be  a  deduction  at  all  from 
this  boasted  aggregate  of  happiness  by  any  woe  or  any 
wretchedness  whatever?  And  this  deep  enigma  is  tenfold 
aggravated  by  the  awful  mystery  of  death — that  sweeping 
and  universal  law  of  mortality,  which  cuts  short  the  fairest 
promises  of  humanity,  and  consigns  to  the  hideousness  of 
the  grave  all  the  bliss  and  beauty  of  its  successive  gen- 
erations. 

10.  But  though  we  cannot  resolve  the  enigma,  we  can 
greatly  alleviate  it,  by  taking  for  the  basis  of  our  solution  a 
wider  view  than  the  calculators  we  have  now  spoken  of 
generally  entertain  of  the  character  of  God.  They  for  the 
''most  part  proceed  on  His  benevolence  alone — as  if  this 
were  the  single  attribute  of  the  Divine  nature.  Instead  of 
which  let  us  imagine  for  a  moment  that  the  attribute  of 
righteousness  were  superadded ;  and  then  see  whether  this 
hypothesis  would  not  furnish  the  materials  for  a  likelier  ex- 
planation of  that  phenomenon — the  existence  of  evil,  which 
has  so  puzzled  and  perplexed  the  philosophers  of  all  ages. 
It  will  give  substance  to  the  hypothesis,  and  dispose  us  to 
entertain  it  as  a  reality,  if  we  view  the  phenomenon  not 
merely  in  itself,  but  view  it  in  connection  with  its  proximate 
and  at  the  same  time  its  palpable  causes.  We  shall  not  pre- 
tend to  any  absolute  solution  for  the  origin  of  moral  evil — 
though  we  think  it  can  easily  be  shown  that,  while  we  fear 
it  must  ever  remain  a  difficulty  that  cannot  fully  be  unriddled 
on  this  side  of  death,  yet  the  evidences,  whether  of  the  nat- 
ural or  the  Christian  theology,  remain  unshaken  by  it.  The 
first  origin  of  evil,  viewed  in  all  its  generality — that  is,  as 
comprehensive  both  of  the  moral  and  the  physical — this,  we 
fear,  is  a  problem  which,  as  related  to  the  perfections  and 
purposes  of  the  uncreated  mind,  lies  beyond  the  limits  of  our 
terra  cognita.  We  cannot  trace  this  progression  upward 
to  the  throne  of  the  Divinity,  and  so  as  wholly  to  dissipate 


128  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  obscuration  which  lies  on  His  character  and  ways. 
But  we  can  trace  it  upward  a  certain  way,  and  so  as  to 
ascertain  at  least  one  of  its  sequences,  both  the  terms  of 
which  lie  within  the  confines  of  our  daily  and  familiar  ob- 
servation. We  cannot  say  why  it  is  that  evil,  in  its  generic 
acceptation,  as  including  both  the  moral  and  physical, 
should  have  been  permitted  to  enter  within  the  precincts  of 
the  universe  of  God.  But  it  is  a  great  thing  to  say,  that  the 
physical,  in  the  vast  majority  and  amount  of  it,  comes  in  the 
train  of  the  moral ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  sufferings  of 
humanity  are  mainly  resolvable  into  the  sins  of  humanity : 
and  though  we  cannot  just  say  that  if  there  was  no  sin  there 
would  be  no  suffering,  certain  it  is  that  if  a  perfect  and 
universal  virtue  were  to  reign  upon  earth,  not  only  would 
the  miseries  of  earth  be  indefinitely  lessened,  but  the  best 
enjoyments  of  heaven,  if  not  in  degree  at  least  in  quality,  be 
generally  realized.  The  misery  viewed  in  itself  might  be  a 
phenomenon  wholly  inexplicable ;  but  it  throws  a  flood  of 
light  upon  the  question  when  viewed  in  connection  with  the 
proximate  cause  which  gives  it  birth — the  vicious  and  dis- 
tempered affections  to  which,  both  in  greatest  bulk  and  in 
greatest  number,  the  chief  discomforts  of  our  existence  are 
owing.  The  capabilities  of  the  world  to  make  a  virtuous 
species  happy,  do  of  themselves  attest  and  vindicate  the  be- 
nevolence of  God ;  and  if  this  object  be  defeated  because 
we  are  depraved,  this  only  proves  that  while  God  loves  the 
happiness  of  His  children,  He  loves  their  virtue  more.  It 
but  superadds  the  attribute  of  righteousness  to  His  attribute 
of  goodness,  and  tells  us  that  we  are  the  subjects  of  a  Parent's 
discipline  as  well  as  of  a  Parent's  care. 

11.  When  man  provides  for  his  own  good  by  the  exercise 
of  his  own  skill,  as  in  the  building  of  a  house  or  the  con- 
struction of  any  other  work  of  art  and  utility,  we  are  apt, 
in  accounting  for  the  existence  of  such  a  product,  to  stop 
short  at  the  wisdom  of  man,  and  omit  all  higher  reference 
to  the  wisdom  of  a  God  who  furnished  him  with  his  various 
faculties  and  powers,  and  made  him  capable  of  all  the  de- 
visings  he  can  perform  by  means  of  his  fitly  endowed  mind, 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  I09 

as  well  as  of  all  the  doings  that  he  can  perform  by  means 
of  his  exquisitely  fashioned  hand.  But  when  any  good  is 
provided  for,  not  by  a  reasoning  process  on  our  part,  but 
by  means  of  a  simple  and  headlong  propensity,  we  are  not 
so  apt  in  this  case  to  lose  sight  of  the  wisdom  of  God  in  the 
wisdom  of  man.  This  might  be  illustrated  by  the  works  01 
inferior  animals  which  we  do  not  accredit  with  the  sagacity 
or  foresight  put  forth  by  ourselves — as  when  instead  of  a 
man  building  a  house,  it  is  the  case  of  a  bird  building  its 
nest,  or  of  a  bee  constructing,  and  with  all  the  nicety  of 
mathematics,  its  hexagonal  cells — which  we  ascribe  to  the 
promptings  of  a  blind  instinct,  and  not  to  the  anticipation  or 
mechanic  skill  of  these  little  artificers.  This  instinct  on  the 
part  of  creatures  unable  to  care  or  calculate  for  themselves, 
as  we  do,  we  are  more  ready  to  carry  upward  to  a  God 
who  cares  and  calculates  for  them,  and  so  provides  them 
with  all  the  instincts  which  are  necessary  for  their  wants. 
The  inference  is  quite  a  right  one  that  we  make  in  regard 
to  these  lower  animals ;  but  it  is  not  right  that  we  should 
fail  to  make  it  in  regard  to  man — for  his  higher  faculties  in 
truth  bear  all  the  more  emphatic  and  enhanced  testimony 
to  that  God  who  has  given  him  more  understanding  than 
the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  mada.  him  wiser  that  the  fowls 
of  heaven. 

12.  But  so  prohfic  and  overpassing  is  the  argument  for  a 
God,  that  we  can  accommodate  it  even  to  this  tendency, 
erroneous  though  it  be,  and  so  cause  it  to  overcome  even 
the  infirmity  of  our  own  wayward  judgments.  Man  has 
not  been  left  to  himself,  any  more  than  the  inferior  animals, 
for  the  care  of  his  own  preservation ;  and  instead  of  this 
interest  being  altogether  confided  to  his  own  wisdom,  or  his 
own  vigilance,  he  too  has  been  fitted  with  a  number  of  un- 
reflecting instincts  and  appetites,  but  for  the  impulse  of  which 
he  would  inevitably  perish.  There  cannot  be  a  more  pal- 
pable exhibition  of  this  than  is  afforded  by  the  appetite  of 
hunger,  which  both  reminds  and  urges  man  by  its  periodic 
calls  to  the  food  that  is  needful  for  his  sustenance,  and  seems 
planted  there  to  serve  the  office  of  a  monitor,  who  might 


130  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

prompt  him  at  right  times  to  take  of  that  aliment,  on  the 
neglect  of  which  for  a  few  days  there  would  ensue  his  dis- 
solution. And  the  same  holds  true  of  his  mental  as  well  as 
his  bodily  affections.  When  danger  threatens,  it  is  not 
enough  either  for  escape  or  for  protection,  that  under  the 
government  of  reason  he  should  adopt  the  right  measures 
by  which  to  shun  or  to  resist  it ;  but  whether  to  wing  his 
flight  or  to  stimulate  his  wakeful  diligence,  there  is  inserted 
within  his  bosom  the  affection  of  fear.  When  an  infant  is 
born,  it  is  not  enough  that  nature  has  provided  the  material 
nourishment  which  keeps  it  in  life;  but  for  the  indispensable 
safety  of  the  little  stranger,  nature  has  also  planted  the 
strongest  of  her  instincts  in  the  heart  of  its  mother,  who 
under  the  impulse  of  an  affection  that  never  wearies,  ceases 
not  day  nor  night  to  tend  and  watch  over  it.  When  the 
patriot  of  high  emprise,  by  the  darings  and  deeds  of  heroism, 
achieves  the  deliverance  of  his  country,  it  is  not  enough  that 
reason  shall  calculate  the  merit  or  decree  the  reward ;  but 
the  instant  sentiments  of  gratitude  and  admiration  are  made 
to  arise  in  every  heart,  and  as  instant  a  feeling  of  triumph 
in  the  breast  of  the  hero  when  the  loud  echo  of  a  nation's 
applause  has  reached  him.  It  is  thus,  that  if  we  go  in  detail 
over  all  the  emotions  or  special  affections  of  our  nature,  we 
shall  find  out  a  final  cause  for  the  establishment  of  every  one 
of  them,  and  so  the  uses  of  a  mental  economy  might  bespeak 
the  design  of  its  formation  as  clearly  and  decisively  as  do 
the  uses  of  a  material  framework.  A  mother's  aflfection 
surely  tells  as  significantly  in  this  way  as  does  a  mother's 
milk ;  or  the  fear  which  speeds  the  footsteps  of  an  animal 
from  the  pursuit  of  its  enemy,  as  do  the  muscles  which  ex- 
ecute the  movement,  or  the  anger  which  rises  and  repels  on 
the  moment  of  injury,  as  does  the  natural  armor  wherewith 
it  meets  the  aggression,  or  the  covering  which  serves  as  a 
shield  to  defend  from  external  violence.  Neither  the  indi- 
vidual nor  the  species,  whether  of  man  or  the  inferior  ani- 
mals, could  long  subsist  without  these  manifold  constitutional 
tendencies  which  owe  neither  their  end  nor  their  origin  to 
the  wisdom  of  the  creature,  but  which,  subserving  as  they 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  131 

do  the  obvious  purposes  of  safety  or  enjoyment,  must  be 
referred  to  the  wisdom  of  a  God.* 

13.  When  one  takes  food,  it  is  generally  at  the  instigation 
of  hunger,  and  without  any  prospective  regard  to  the  good 
of  his  animal  system.  In  this  matter,  then,  there  can  be  no 
foresight  ascribed  to  him  who  feels  the  appetite,  but  it  is 
altogether  to  be  ascribed  to  Him  who  inserted  the  appetite. 
Or,  in  other  words,  the  benefit  of  this  law  in  our  physical 
economy  is  in  no  part  due  to  the  wisdom  of  man ;  and  in  as 
far  as  it  indicates  design,  must  be  wholly  referred  to  the 
wisdom  of  a  God.  But  this  consideration  admits  of  being 
extended  from  a  provision  made  for  the  good  of  the  indi- 
vidual, to  a  provision  made  for  the  complex  and  general 
good  of  society.  Take  for  an  example,  and  as  a  counter- 
part to  the  general  law  of  hunger  or  appetite  for  food,  the 
almost  as  general  law  of  an  appetite  for  wealth,  up  to  the 
measure  at  least  of  every  man's  fit  and  fair  opportunities  of 
realizing  it.  Under  the  impulse  of  this  affection,  we  see 
each  man  intent  on  the  prosecution  of  his  own  personal 
interest  and  advancement,  making  this  a  distinct  and  sepa- 
rate object  of  very  strenuous  exertion ;  and  pursuing  it,  not 
merely  with  all  the  force  of  an  instinctive  desire,  but  often 
with  an  intelligence  and  reach  of  anticipation  which  prove 
that  the  very  highest  powers  of  the  understanding  have 
been  enlisted  in  the  service.  Still  the  anticipator  shoots  no 
farther  onward  than  to  his  own  private  and  peculiar  advant- 
age— to  the  object  either  of  providing  a  competency  or 
building  up  a  fortune  for  himself  and  his  family.  He  does 
not  think  of  the  ulterior  good  which  he  and  millions  of  others 
in  the  same  walk  of  business  or  industry  along  with  him 
are  at  the  time  doing  for  society  at  large,  any  more  than  in 
the  act  of  eating,  he  thinks  of  the  indispensable  benefit  he 
thereby  renders  to  his  corporeal  framework.  The  gratifi- 
cation of  his  hunger  is  the  terminating  object  in  the  one  case, 
and  the  gratification  of  his  appetite  for  gain  is  the  terminating 

*  As  the  beneficial  instincts  of  the  inferior  animals  prove  the  wisdom  and 
beneficence  of  a  God,  the  intelligence  wherewith  man  is  gifted  enhances  the 
proof. — ^Job  XXXV.  11 ;  xxxii.  8. 


132  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

object  in  the  other.  Than  these  he  looks  no  farther ;  but 
there  is  one  who  does  look  farther,  and  in  the  posterior  or 
remoter  benefits  which  result  from  each  of  them,  He  makes 
signal  demonstration  of  a  prescient  and  a  purposing  mind, 
whether  in  building  up  the  structure  of  a  single  man,  or 
forming  from  an  aggregate  of  men  the  structure  of  a  humam 
society.  Each  individual  of  that  vast  assemblage  who 
compose  a  populous  city,  or  a  mighty  empire,  or  the  whole 
family  of  man,  concentrates  almost  all  his  attention  and  all 
his  efforts  on  his  own  single  prosperity ;  and  from  such  a 
multitude  of  independent  forces,  each  having  a  separate  aim 
and  direction  from  all  the  rest,  one  might  have  anticipated 
nothing  else  than  a  perfect  chaos  of  conflicting  interests,  out 
of  which  it  were  impossible  to  form  an  organization  that 
could  work  harmoniously  towards  any  great  and  beneficent 
result,  or  with  such  a  principle  of  vigor  and  endurance  that 
it  could  last  for  a  single  day.  Now,  what  is  the  fact?  How 
does  it  fare  with  the  general  benefit  of  society,  when  each 
individual  member  of  it  is  thus  left  to  grasp  and  struggle  for 
his  own  special  benefit  ?  Economists  can  tell,  that  with  but 
the  maintenance  of  justice  between  man  and  man,  the 
greatest  economic  wellbeing  of  a  community  is  secured,  by 
each  being  at  hberty  to  improve  his  own  condition  and  better 
his  own  circumstances  as  he  may;  and  that  the  mechanism 
of  trade,  with  its  various  and  complicated  interests  and 
numerous  springs  of  activity,  never  moves  so  prosperously, 
or  works  off  so  great  an  amount  of  opulence  and  Comfort  as 
under  this  system  of  perfect  liberty,  when  each  aspirant  in 
the  busy  walks  of  merchandise  is  allowed  full  scope  for  his 
own  energies  and  his  own  views ;  or,  what  is  tantamount 
to  this,  when  nature  is  left  spontaneous  and  unfettered  to 
the  free  development  of  her  own  principles  of  action.  It  is 
certainly  marvelous  that  such  should  be  the  result,  while 
each  of  the  mighty  host  of  individuals  who  unconsciously 
helps  it  forward,  looks  not  beyond  his  own  little  sphere,  with 
no  higher  aim  than  the  amelioration  of  his  own  state,  the 
sustenance,  or  it  may  be  the  aggrandizement,  of  his  own 
family.     And  the  abortive  attempts  of  human  legislation  to 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  133 

improve  on  this  beautiful  system,  when  by  its  restrictions  or 
its  bounties  in  commerce,  it  only  distempers  and  mars  what 
it  lays  its  hands  upon,  strikingly  sets  off  the  superior  wisdom 
of  Him  who  is  the  great,  the  original  architect  both  of  nature 
and  of  society,  and  the  profound  skillfulness  of  whose  ordi- 
nations is  never  more  convincingly  shown  than  by  the  mis- 
chief which  is  done  when  they  are  thwarted  and  interfered 
with  by  the  impotent  wisdom  of  man.* 

14.  So  much  for  the  economic  good  of  society.  But 
there  are  other  great  and  high  interests  which  are  pro- 
vided for  in  like  manner,  and  that  by  means  of  affections 
which  speculators  would  fain  root  up,  but  that  fortunately 
nature  is  too  strong  for  them — such  as  the  relative  affec- 
tions, which  cosmopolites  would  extirpate  to  make  way 
for  their  universal  benevolence,  but  which,  both  by  their 
strength  and  concentration,  add  prodigiously,  though  in 
separate  family  groups,  to  the  amount  of  human  happiness; 
and  the  sentiments  of  reverence  for  station  and  rank,  de- 
nounced by  revolutionists  and  radicals,  but  which  are  nat- 
ural sentiments  notwithstanding,  and  are  of  most  powerful 
efficacy  for  the  cement  and  preservation  of  social  order ; 
and  the  proprietary  feelings,  without  which  industry  would 
fold  her  arms,  and  earth's  fertile  territory  would  be  through- 
out a  wilderness,  instead  of  yielding  in  the  produce  of  her 
reclaimed  and  cultured,  because  her  appropriated  acres,  a 
sustenance,  in  every  land  emerged  from  barbarism,  to 
milHons  of  civilized  men  ; — these  various  mental  propensi- 
ties are  not  the  artificial  products  of  any  human  discipline, 
but  parts  of  an  original  and  universal  nature,  which,  looked 
to  in  connection  with  their  undoubted  effects  on  the  order 
and  prosperity  of  every  commonwealth,  strikingly  demon- 
strate the  superior  wisdom  of  God — and  all  the  more 
justified  by  its  contrast  with  the  folly  of  those  reckless 
innovators  who  seek  to  change  both  the  constitution  of 
man    and    the    constitution   of   society   in    their    ruinous 

*  The  instincts  and  affections  of  men  work  out  beneficial  results,  with  tha 
production  of  which  neither  the  reason  nor  the  moral  principle  of  men  could 
have  been  intrusted. — Ps.  Ixxvi.  10 ;  Is.  x.  7. 


134  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  abortive  attempts  to  establish  an  optimism  of  their 
own. 

15.  There  are  other  and  most  interesting  walks  even  in 
this  mental  department  of  natural  theology,  on  which  we 
find  it  impossible  to  enter,  and  in  which,  as  everywhere, 
we  meet  with  fresh  evidences  for  a  God.  At  present  we 
can  say  nothing  of  man's  intellectual  powers,  or  the  adapt- 
ation of  these  to  external  nature.  We  are  not  able  to 
overtake  the  subject ;  and  for  this  best  of  reasons,  the  sub- 
ject is  inexhaustible.  It  partakes  of  the  infinity  of  the 
Godhead,  who  has  peopled  immensity  with  the  wonders  of 
His  hand,  and  imprinted  the  vestiges  both  of  His  wisdom 
and  power  on  a  workmanship  that  we  are  wholly  unable 
to  explore,  either  in  its  variety  or  its  boundlessness.  We 
can  deal  but  in  parts  or  specimens  of  this  high  argument 
— for  truly  there  is  not  a  science,  not  a  subject  of  human 
thought  or  observation,  on  which  a  natural  theology  might 
not  be  grafted.  In  every  new  field  that  we  can  set  our 
foot  upon  we  can  gather  new  contributions  to  the  evidence 
for  a  God.  For  doing  justice  to  our  theme,  we  would  need 
to  traverse  the  whole  encyclopaedia  of  human  learning, 
and  even  then  should  we  fall  infinitely  short  of  an  ade- 
quate demonstration — as  far  short  as  is  the  collective  and 
accumulated  wisdom  of  our  species  from  the  conceptions 
of  Him  whose  government  reaches  from  eternity  to  eter- 
nity, and  the  arm  of  whose  might  it  was  that  created  and 
upholds  all  worlds.  But  there  is  not  merely  the  grandeur 
of  the  outline,  there  is  the  density  and  variety  and  mi- 
croscopic exquisiteness  of  the  filling  up,  which  forces  us 
to  desist  from  an  enterprise  so  baffling,  as  a  full  represent- 
ation of  Him  who,  in  the  expressive  language  of  Robert 
Hall,  subordinates  all  that  is  great,  exalts  all  that  is  little, 
and  sits  enthroned  on  the  riches  of  the  universe. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ON  THE  DEGREE  OF  LIGHT  WHICH  NATURAL  THEOLOGY 
CASTS,  AND  THE  UNCERTAINTY  IN  WHICH  IT  LEAVES  BOTH 
THE    PURPOSES    OF    GOD    AND    THE    FUTURE    DESTINES    OF 

MAN. 

1.  There  are  many  special  purposes  of  which  both  the 
means  and  the  fulfillment  come  under  our  observation,  and 
which  it  is  impossible  therefore  to  mistake — as  of  our  teeth 
for  the  mastication  of  food,  and  of  our  hands  for  the  mani- 
pulations of  art  and  industry,  and  of  our  feet  both  for  sup- 
port and  locomotion,  and  of  the  various  senses  whether  in 
man  or  the  inferior  animals,  and  of  the  thousand  objective 
things  which  subserve  their  accommodation — as  the  light, 
and  the  air,  and  the  fertilizing  showers,  and  the  manifold 
sorts  of  aliment  suited  to  every  sort  of  creature,  and  in 
which  God  hath  not  left  himself  Without  a  witness.  In  all 
these  cases  the  design  announces  itself,  and  might  be 
gathered  from  an  act  of  inspection — when  both  the  thing 
in  question  and  the  use  it  is  put  to  are  made  to  pass  before 
our  eyes.  And  innumerable  are  such  things  within  the 
field  of  observation,  and  which  we  confidently  refer  to  an 
adequate  wisdom  and  power,  and,  in  the  vast  majority  of 
instances,  to  a  beneficence,  too,  on  the  part  of  a  living  and 
intelligent  Deity. 

2.  But  it  is  of  importance  to  remark  that  there  may  be 
innumerable  palpable  evidences  of  design  in  nature,  prov- 
ing that  it  has  emanated  from  a  designing  cause  ;  and  yet 
with  all  this,  we  may  be  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  great 
and  general  design  of  creation,  or  of  what  may  be  termed 
the  policy  of  the  Creator.  You  may  thus  see  at  one  glance 
what  is  the  light  and  what  the  darkness  of  natural  theo- 
logy, as  much  light  as  conducts  us  to  a  God,  but  as  much 
darkness  as  leaves  us  in  profoundest  ignorance  of  His  coun- 
sels, or  of  the  drift  and  consummation  of  His  ways.  We 
know  what  the  specific  designs  of  our  eyes,  and  our  teeth, 


136  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  the  various  organs  and  parts  of  our  bodies  are- — all  of 
them  designs  which  imply  a  designer.  But  we  know  not 
—Nature,  at  least,  gives  us  no  information — of  the  design 
of  God  in  the  creation  of  man ;  and  after  all  that  we  can 
explore  and  ascertain  on  the  field  of  the  Divine  workman- 
ship, the  enigma  of  man's  birth  and  being  is  still  unresolv- 
ed. And  yet  man  is  covered  all  over  with  the  bright 
inscriptions  of  a  Divinity  that  has  had  to  do  in  the  whole 
of  his  make  and  mechanism.  We  have  thus  the  most 
overpowering  evidence  that  God  is ;  but  there  is  no  evi- 
dence within  the  reach  of  our  natural  faculties  that  can 
dissipate  the  obscurity  which  shrouds  the  unsearchable 
counsels  of  the  Deity.* 

3.  On  a  field  of  battle,  we  might  be  able  to  read  the 
design,  and  to  trace  a  designer's  hand,  in  every  warlike 
instrument  that  we  meet,  yet  not  be  in  the  least  helped  by 
this  to  understand  the  policy  of  the  war.  And  so  might 
we  be  able  to  recognize  the  marks  and  indications  of  an 
artist's  skill  throughout  *every  section  in  the  territory  of 
creation,  yet  remain  altogether  unable  to  comprehend  the 
one  great  purpose  of  creation  on  the  whole.  We  might 
assign  in  thousands  what  be  the  special  and  subordinate 
ends  of  the  many  obvious  contrivances  which  we  see  every- 
where around  us,  yet  be  as  profoundly  ignorant  as  before 
of  God's  end  in  the  creation  of  the  world.  We  can  tell 
the  meaning  of  every  part  and  organ  in  the  curious  work- 
manship of  man's  body,  and  yet  be  unable  to  say  why  man 
himself  has  been  brought  forth  to  fret  his  little  hour  on  the 
stage  of  being,  and  after  a  few  brief  evolutions  there,  to 
sink  again  into  the  nonentity  from  which  he  was  taken. 

4.  Nor  do  the  discoveries  of  science  serve  to  alleviate 
the  mystery — whether  their  eflfect  be  to  lay  before  our 
view  a  greater  number  of  worlds,  or  to  give  us  a  more 
thorough  insight  into  the  mechanism  and  processes  of  the 

*  The  clear  and  decisive  evidences  of  design  which  creation  presents  in 
thousands  of  particular  instances,  perfectly  compatible  with  the  utmost  igno 
ranee  on  our  part  of  the  general  design  of  creation. — Rom.  xi.  33 ;  Psalm 
cxlv.  3 :  cxxxix.  6  ;  Isa.  xl.  28 ;  Job  xxxvii.  5  ;  v.  9. 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  137 


world  that  we  ourselves  occupy.  If  anything,  they  but 
enhance  the  mystery,  and  make  the  purposes  of  the  Su- 
preme Being  more  inscrutable  than  before — ^just  as  the 
policy  of  an  empire,  because  a  higher,  might  prove  a  more 
baffling  study  than  the  politics  of  the  town  in  which  we 
live.  The  telescope  which  announces  to  us  the  reaUty  of 
these  distant  worlds,  casts  no  light  upon  their  moral  govern- 
ment. It  tells  us  of  a  larger  sovereignty,  but  gives  no  access 
to  the  methods  or  the  ends  of  its  administration,  and  so 
places  the  mind  of  the  sovereign  all  the  more  hopelessly 
beyond  the  ken  of  our  faculties.  The  revelations  of  as- 
tronomical science  make  us  no  wiser  in  theology  than 
before,  unless  indeed  they  teach  what  they  ought,  the  wis- 
dom of  humility,  and  lead  us  so  to  acquiesce  in  our  own 
ignorance,  that  we  shall  either  patiently  wait  the  dis- 
closures of  futurity,  or  thankfully  receive  the  informations 
of  a  higher  wisdom  than  our  own. 

5.  And  if  the  expansion  of  our  knowledge  beyond  its 
former  limits  bring  no  positive  accession  to  our  understand- 
ing of  the  ways  of  God — as  little  can  our  deeper  penetration 
into  the  arcana  and  constitution  of  the  things  within  our 
reach.  The  object  of  all  physical  investigation  is  to  ascer- 
tain the  order  of  those  sequences  which  take  place  in  nature, 
and  which  land  in  certain  given  results.  We  might  in  this 
way  come  to  the  discovery  of  many  exquisite  contrivances 
— such,  for  example,  as  the  mechanism  of  the  eye,  from 
which  we  must  irresistibly  infer  that  the  hand  of  a  contriver 
was  employed  in  setting  up  this  apparatus  for  the  purposes 
of  seeing.  And  we  can  extend  the  same  inference  to  a 
countless  number  of  other  purposes — of  which  we  can 
establish  beyond  all  doubt  that  they  were  conceived  by  a 
master-mind,  and  executed  with  the  skill  and  ability  of  a 
master.  Yet,  as  we  have  already  said,  though  we  can 
read  all  these  purposes  with  perfect  distinctness,  and  refer 
them  with  the  most  perfect  confidence  to  an  intelligent  de- 
signer, to  a  God,  who,  for  instance,  in  the  creation  of  man, 
meant  him  to  be  a  creature  who  could  see  and  hear  and 
hold  converse  with  his  fellows,  and  perform  the  various 


138  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

manipulations  which  he  can  execute  with  his  hands,  and  be 
able  to  transport  himself  from  any  one  place  to  any  other 
whither  his  feet  can  carry  him.  Though  we  are  very  sure 
that  the  God  who  made  him  had  all  these  purposes  regard- 
ing man,  and  has  carried  them  into  effect — yet  the  great 
and  general  purpose  of  his  creation  remains  an  enigma  still ; 
and  none  of  the  physical  sciences,  not  even  the  physics  of 
the  mind,  though  carried  to  the  uttermost  limits  of  possible 
discovery,  can  help  us  to  resolve  it.  The  mystery  is  ten- 
fold aggravated  by  the  thousand  ills  which  are  scattered 
along  the  journey  of  human  life,  and,  above  all,  by  its 
appalling  termination  in  the  agonies  and  the  cruel  separa- 
tions and  the  dark  and  revolting  hideousness  of  death.  -  No 
philosophy,  however  searching,  and  however  successful  her 
search  into  laws  and  processes,  can  lift  the  vail  which 
hangs  over  the  policy  that  leads  to  results  like  these.  Na- 
ture is  unable  to  comprehend  the  meaning  or  object  of  such 
a  regimen;  and  natural  theology  utterly  fails  in  her  attempts 
to  resolve  what  in  Scripture  is  significantly  termed  the 
mystery  of  God. 

6.  We  are  obviously  bordering  on  that  great  question 
which  has  exercised  and  baffled  the  highest  powers  of 
speculation  amongst  the  philosophers  of  all  ages — we  mean 
the  origin  of  evil — a  subject  on  which  we  have  presented 
our  own  views  elsewhere,*  and  to  these  we  can  only  refer. 
We  attempt  no  positive  solution  of  this  question ;  but  are 
far  from  regarding  the  conjectural  solutions  of  Leibnitz  and 
others  as  altogether  worthless.  It  is  enough  for  our  pur- 
pose that  they  might  be  the  just  and  true  solutions,  for 
aught  we  know.  It  is  thus  that  the  objection  grounded  on 
this  difficulty  against  the  rehgious  system  in  any  form,  if 
not  mastered  and  overcome,  is  at  least  neutralized.  And 
so  our  hypothesis,  even  though  unproved,  if  only  not  dis- 
proved, might  be  of  service  in  theology.  It  may  at  least 
be  as  good  as  the  infidel  hypothesis  opposed  to  it,  and  so 
give  us  a  perfect  warrant  to  withdraw  froui  the  hypothetical 
region  altogether.     We  therefore  gladly  decline  the  task  of 

*  See  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  286. 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  139 

soaring  aloft  among  the  mysteries  of  God's  universal  govern- 
ment ;  and,  quitting  these  transcendental  themes  as  matters 
too  high  for  us,  would  now  limit  our  inquiries  to  such  proba- 
bilities, if  not  such  certainties,  as  are  within  our  reach — and 
from  which  we  might  surmise,  perhaps  even  discover,  the 
present  will  and  purposes  of  God  respecting  both  the  pre- 
sent duties  and  the  future  destiny  of  man. 

7.  Into  the  future  destinies  of  man  there  would  be  no 
room  for  inquiry  if  the  period  of  our  conscious  existence 
were  to  terminate  at  death.  We  see  all  that  happens  to 
man  in  this  world  ;  and  if  this  be  the  alone  theater  on  v^hich 
he  expatiates,  we  have  but  to  trace  his  brief  history  upon 
earth,  in  order  to  ascertain  whatever  might  befall  him,  from 
the  hour  of  his  first  appearance  on  the  platform  of  visible 
things  to  the  final  consummation  of  his  being  w^hen  he  is  laid 
in  the  sepulcher.  If  death  be  the  ultimate  extinction  of 
every  human  being,  there  were  no  call  for  argument  or 
speculation  on  the  subject  of  his  future  destiny,  unless  by 
this  be  meant  the  future  destiny  of  the  species,  or  of  men 
taken  in  their  collective  and  social  capacity — a  theme  of 
fond  anticipation  to  those  cosmopolites  and  philosophical 
statesmen  who  speak  to  us  of  the  perfectibility  of  our  race, 
and  the  triumphs  both  of  knowledge  and  virtue  in  the  ages 
which  are  to  come.  But  this  is  not  our  theme.  It  is  not 
of  the  coming  fortunes  of  the  species  that  we  now  inquire, 
but  of  men  taken  individually ;  and  we  repeat  that  such 
inquiry  would  be  a  pure  work  of  observation,  not  a  ques- 
tion that  required  the  exercise  of  our  reasoning  faculties,  in 
order  to  estimate  its  probabilities  and  its  likelihoods,  if  man, 
in  the  act  of  expiring  or  of  resigning  his  life,  resigned  it 
irrevocably — thenceforth  to  remain  forever  unconscious  as 
the  clods  of  the  valley,  or  as  the  dust  out  of  which  he  was 
taken.  Under  such  an  economy  there  might  rest  a  deep 
enigma  on  the  purposes  of  God,  or  policy  of  the  Divine 
administration,  in  thus  calling  forth  the  successive  genera- 
tions of  men  to  strut  their  little  hour  on  the  fleeting  scene 
of  mortality,  and  then  fall  back  into  the  arms  of  everlasting 
silence.     But  however  difficult  to  dispose  of  this  mystery  in 


140  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  government  of  God,  there  would  be  no  more  difficulty 
in  summing  up  the  whole  fortunes  of  man  ft'om  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  his  ephemeral  existence,  than  to  assign 
any  of  those  historical  certainties  which  occur  within  the 
limits  of  sense  and  observation. 

8.  By  our  very  inquiry  then  into  the  degree  of  light  which 
natural  theology  casts  on  the  future  destinies  of  man,  we 
presuppose  the  likelihood  of  his  abiding  existence  as  a 
conscious  being  on  the  other  side  of  death;  and  this  sug- 
gests a  preliminary  question  on  the  degree  of  that  likeli- 
hood ;  or,  on  the  strength  of  our  reasons  for  believing  in 
the  duration  of  the  vital  principle,  after  that,  by  this  great 
catastrophe,  it  has  been  removed  from  all  human  observa- 
tion in  this  world — or,  in  other  words,  should  we  make  it  a 
question,  not  of  subsequent  only,  but  of  eternal  duration,  it 
resolves  itself  into  the  familiar  and  well-known  question  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul.  Now,  apart  from  revelation, 
and  on  the  supposition  that  we  had  no  other  tribunal  before 
which  to  try  and  to  decide  this  initial  question  than  that  of 
natural  reason,  still  we  should  be  disposed  to  make  natural 
theology  the  chief,  or  rather,  the  only  arbiter  thereupon. 
We  are  aware  of  other  arguments  being  employed  in  be- 
half of  the  soul's  immortality  than  those  which  are  founded 
on  the  consideration  of  God  as  the  wise  and  righteous 
governor  of  men.  There  is  besides  a  certain  physical 
argument  on  which  both  philosophers  and  theologians  have 
laid  a  greater  stress  in  their  reasoning  on  the  subject  than 
we  ever  found  ourselves  able  to  sympathize  with.  We 
feel  no  such  confidence  as  is  expressed  by  many  of  them  in 
the  distinction  which  they  allege  between  the  nature  of  a 
spiritual  and  that  of  a  corporeal  substance — the  one  simple, 
uncompounded,  and  therefore  indestructible,  so  as  to  retain 
its  powers  and  properties  entire  after  the  dissolution  of  the 
body;  the  other,  even  though  not  annihilated,  yet  changing 
all  its  sensible  properties,  and  assuming  a  wholly  new  char- 
acter by  the  mere  disintegration  of  its  parts,  as  the  material 
framework  of  man  when  it  is  deserted  by  that  spirit  which 
both  animates  and  preserves  it,  and  is  resolved  by  the 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  141 

power  of  corruption  into  the  dust  of  the  sepulcher  We 
confess  that  the  demonstrations  of  those  who  reason  thus 
upon  the  mere  physics  of  the  mind,  and  tell  of  the  necessary 
and  natural  connection  which  subsists  between  the  im- 
material and  the  immortal,  have  made  little  or  no  impres- 
sion upon  our  understandings.  It  is  obvious  that  if  fitted 
to  work  in  any  the  conviction  of  a  future  state,  they  should 
tell  alike  on  the  judgments  of  a  religionist  and  of  an  atheist. 
For  ourselves,  in  a  matter  which  we  conceive  to  be  so 
utterly  beyond  the  cognizance  of  man  as  that  of  a  necessary 
connection  between  the  natural  constitution  of  the  mind  and 
its  eternal  duration,  we  have  no  confidence  in  the  judgment 
of  either,  and  feel  inchned  to  rest  the  determination  of  this 
question,  not  in  any  degree  upon  physical,  but  altogether 
upon  moral  and  theological  considerations. 

9.  The  first  of  these  arguments  is  grounded  on  that  gen- 
eral law  of  adaptation  which  is  observable  throughout  all 
nature,  and  on  which  the  theology  of  nature  rests  one  of  her 
strongest  inferences  for  a  wise  and  intelligent  Maker  of  all 
things.  The  most  important  of  these  adaptations  are  those 
which  obtain  between  the  affections  and  wants  of  the  sub- 
jective living  creature,  and  those  objective  counterparts  of 
external  nature  by  which  he  is  surrounded,  and  in  the  midst 
of  which  he  is  placed.  For  example,  we  have  light  for  the 
eyes,  and  an  atmosphere  for  the  lungs,  and  sound  emanating 
from  a  number  of  elastic  bodies  by  a  pathway  of  aerial  vi- 
brations to  the  organ  of  hearing  ;  and  food  of  various  tastes 
for  the  palate  as  well  as  the  general  properties  of  satiating 
the  appetite  of  hunger,  and  yielding  nutriment  and  support 
to  the  animal  economy;  and  a  number  of  distinct  fitnesses, 
far  greater  than  can  possibly  be  recounted,  between  the 
inhabitants  of  diflferent  climes,  and  different  elements,  and 
their  respective  fields  of  occupation — as  the  wings  of  birds 
and  the  fins  of  fishes  for  expatiating  in  the  several  provinces 
which  have  been  assigned  to  them ;  and  manifold  other  con- 
gruities  which  it  were  impossible  to  sum  up,  and  of  which 
therefore  we  shall  only  give  another  example  in  the  relation 
that  obtains  between  the  kind  of  digestive  apparatus  on  the 


142  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

one  hand,  and  the  kind  of  aUment  that  is  suited  to  it — the 
creature  who  is  thus  endowed  being  at  the  same  time  fur- 
nished with  such  teeth  as  are  best  fitted  for  the  mastication 
of  its  appropriate  food,  and  such  claws  as  are  best  fitted  for 
laying  hold  of  it.  Now  these  are  all  present  or  contem- 
poraneous adaptations— or  adaptations  betw^een  the  object- 
ive and  the  subjective,  as  they  exist  together  in  time.  But 
besides  these  there  are  prospective  adaptations — as  in  the 
case  of  the  foetus,  which  is  not  only  provided  with  an  ap- 
paratus for  its  nourishment  in  this  its  first  state,  but  with  an 
embryo  apparatus  also,  which,  of  no  present  use,  is  destined 
for  the  purposes  of  nourishment  and  support  in  its  next 
state  of  being  ;  and  likewise  in  the  case  of  the  child  during 
the  first  months  of  his  infancy,  whose  teeth  are  then  buried 
in  their  sockets,  when  they  would  obstruct  his  reception  of 
the  aliment  suited  to  that  early  period,  but  are  there  re- 
served till  the  time  of  that  indispensable  service  which,  after 
their  growth  and  development,  they  have  to  perform  in 
using  the  aliment  of  a  future  period  of  existence.  Now, 
analogous  to  this,  are  there  no  present  faculties  in  man  of 
no  use,  or  at  least  of  no  commensurate  use  here,  and  which 
would  prove  to  have  been  utterly  wasted  and  meaningless, 
if  provided  with  no  adequate  object  for  their  exercise  on 
the  other  side  of  death  ?  Do  there  not  exist,  even  in  the 
mind  of  a  most  unlettered  peasant,  now  dormant  capacities 
for  all  the  sciences  ;  and  in  his  heart,  though  overborne 
here  by  the  influences  of  sense  and  time,  the  germs  of  such 
a  love  as  angels  are  said  to  feel,  and  such  a  virtue  as  reigns, 
we  are  told,  on  high  among  the  choirs  and  companies  of  the 
celestial  ?  It  is  not  so  with  the  inferior  animals,  among 
whom  there  is  an  actual  fullness  of  enjoyment  up  to  the 
measure  and  capacity  of  their  actual  powers  of  enjoyment. 
We  see  no  example  of  a  waste  feeling  or  waste  faculty 
among  them  ;  but  each,  whether  it  be  a  bodily  organ  or  an 
instinctive  desire,  is  provided  with  an  accurate  counterpart 
that  meets  and  fills  it  up  in  the  objects  within  reach  of  sur- 
rounding nature.  Not  so  with  man,  who  would  be  an  anom- 
aly in  creation  if,  with  his  interminable  longings,  his  powers 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  143 


of  endless  acquisition  and  improvement,  his  indefinite  but 
here  unsatiated  conceptions  after  higher  things,  and  the 
pal  b  e  inadequacy  of  all  that  is  here  below  to  meet  the 
a  tencies  of  a  mind  that  heaves  ambitiously  upward  to 
larger  degrees  both  of  knowledge  and  enjoyment  than  can 
possibly  be  realized  on  this  side  of  death — we  say  it  were 
a  violent  exception  to  the  great  and  general  law  of  adapta- 
tion between  the  objective  and  the  subjective,  if  no  futurity 
on  the  other  side  of  death  were  in  reserve  for  a  creature  of 
such  boundless  and  restless  and  yet  unappeased  desires,  in 
which  they  might  meet  with  their  commensurate  objects, 
and  have  the  full  gratification  of  them.  That  the  creature 
man  should  be  endowed  with  capacities  and  desires,  and 
yet  be  left  unprovided  with  objects  whereon  to  exercise  or  to 
indulge  them,  were  a  sort  of  half-formed  or  unfinished  econ- 
omy, most  unlike  to  all  that  we  can  observe  in  every  other 
department  of  nature  or  experience,  and  most  incongruous 
with  all  our  notions  of  that  wisdom  which  is  so  discernible 
in  all  creation  besides,  as  one  of  the  best  established  while 
also  one  of  the  highest  of  the  natural  attributes  of  the 
Godhead.* 

10.  This  then  is  our  first  argument  for  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  Our  second,  which  we  have  always  regarded  as 
the  stronger  of  the  two,  hinges  also  on  a  previous  theology 
— drawn,  however,  not  as  the  other  is,  from  any  of  the 
natural,  but  from  the  moral  attributes  of  the  Godhead.  We 
have  ever  thought  that  our  clearest  and  most  confident  no- 
tions of  the  divine  character  were  obtained  through  the 
medium  of  the  conscience,  which,  as  being  at  once  the 
teacher  and  commander  of  righteousness  within  the  breast, 
ushers  in  at  once  not  the  idea  only,  but  a  positive  conviction 
of  the  righteousness  of  Him  who  placed  it  there.  t  is  this 
sense  of  a  righteous  Lawgiver  which  suggests  so  promptly 
and  so  powerfully  the  apprehension  that  a  day  of  retribu- 

*  The  first  argument  for  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is  grounded  on  the 
general  law  of  adaptation,  which  would  be  violated  if  the  boundless  desires 
and  capacities  of  men  were  not  provided  with  the  objects  of  a  future  and 
eternal  state. — Eccl.  iii.  21. 


144  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

tion  is  awaiting  us.  We  call  it  apprehension ;  for  any 
views  we  have  of  a  future  state  of  recompense  stand  infi- 
nitely less  related  to  our  hopes  than  to  our  fears.  So  that, 
speaking  generally,  indeed  I  might  say  universally,  it  is  not 
because  we  are  looking  forward  to  the  reward  of  our  vir- 
tues that  we  anticipate  an  existence  beyond  the  grave ;  but 
because  we  are  looking  forward  to  the  punishment  of  our 
vices,  and  the  conscious  misdeeds  of  our  life  and  history  in 
the  world.  Our  prospects  of  immortality,  as  viewed  in  the 
light  of  nature,  are  associated  with  the  dread  of  an  aveng- 
ing Deity,  and  not  with  the  confident  expectation,  either  of 
forgiveness,  or  far  less  of  positive  favor  at  His  hand ;  and 
this  because  we  view  Him  as  a  God  of  justice,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  have  a  deeply-seated  conviction  within  of  the 
evil  of  our  hearts  and  the  evil  of  our  ways.  And  if  fear 
be  a  more  vividly  and  sensibly  felt  emotion  than  hope, 
then,  should  the  former  and  not  the  latter  be  the  avenue 
through  which  the  notion  of  its  own  immortality  takes  pos- 
session of  the  soul — if  this  do  not  give  a  strong  conviction 
of  its  truth,  it  will  at  least  give  a  far  stronger  impression  of 
it,  and  so  enlist  the  whole  man  all  the  more  readily  and 
earnestly  on  the  side  of  practical  religion. 

11.  But  there  is  another  consideration  of  some  force  in 
this  argument  taken  from  the  justice  of  God.  He  will  not 
only  vindicate  His  own  cause  by  the  punishment  of  those 
transgressions  which  man  commits  against  Himself — and 
this  we  conceive  to  be  that  suggestion  of  conscience  which, 
far  the  most  powerfully  of  all  others,  awakens  in  the  heart 
both  the  faith  and  the  fear  of  immortality  ;  but  He  also,  as 
righteous  Governor  of  the  humanfamily,  will  vindicate  and 
redress  every  wrong  which  man  commits  against  his  fel- 
lows— bringing  every  question  which  death  had  left  unfin- 
ished in  this  world  to  its  final,  which  under  a  regimen  of 
justice  must  be  tantamount  to  its  rightful  termination  in 
another.  This,  too,  helps  to  sustain  our  belief  in  a  future 
state.  There  are  innumerable  ills,  whether  in  the  walks  of 
business  or  the  recesses  of  domestic  Hfe,  inflicted  either 
by  fraud  or  force,  on  many  a  helpless  and  undeserving  suf- 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  145 

ferer,  which  never  meet  with  reparation  here,  and  of  which 
therefore,  we  naturally  imagine  that  there  will  be  a  reck- 
oning and  a  settlement  hereafter.  The  cry  of  the  oppressed 
on  earth  reaches  heaven's  throne,  and  enters  into  the  ears 
of  Him  who  sitteth  thereon  ;  and  by  whose  coming  awards 
we  expect  that  the  appetency  of  our  moral  nature  for  just- 
ice will  at  length  be  satisfied.  It  is  thus  that  the  sense  of 
right  and  wrong  in  every  breast,  if  not  the  great  origina- 
tor, has  been  the  great  upholder  of  natural  theology  in  the 
world — insomuch  that  to  it,  the  faculty  of  conscience,  we 
mainly  owe  the  two  great  articles  of  its  creed.  It  is  this 
conscience,  as  we  have  repeatedly  affirmed,  which  tells 
most  audibly  of  a  God  ;  and  to  its  forebodings  also  are 
we  mainly  indebted  for  the  faith  of  immortality  in  all  ages. 
These  two  great  lessons  may  have  been  given  by  revela- 
tion at  the  first ;  but  it  is  not  the  reasoning  of  the  schools, 
it  is  the  universal  voice  of  conscience  which  has  reiterated 
and  kept  them  alive  throughout  the  whole  family  of  man 
from  generation  to  generation.* 

12.  And  here,  too,  we  cannot  fail  to  recognize  in  our 
attempt  to  establish  the  second  of  these  doctrines  what  we 
have  already  found  in  our  treatment  of  the  first  of  them — ■ 
the  great  argumentative  importance  of  taking  along  with 
us  the  justice  of  God  as  well  as  His  benevolence,  when 
reasoning  on  any  subject  in  theology  wherewith  the  divine 
character  has  to  do.  We  had  lately  occasion  to  animad- 
vert on  the  extreme  difficulty  of  reconciling  the  miseries 
of  human  life  with  the  goodness  of  the  Deity,  if,  restricting 
our  attention  to  His  goodness  alone,  we  keep  out  of  sight 
His  righteousness  and  holiness  and  truth.  For  how  is  it 
that  those  reasoners  proceed  who  make  no  account  of 
these  latter  attributes,  and  look  on  the  one  perfection  of 
goodness  or  tenderness  or  parental  affection  as  the  all  in 
all  of  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven  ?     Why,  they  have 

*  The  moral  argument  for  the  immortality  of  man — the  strongest  of  all 
within  the  compass  of  the  light  of  nature,  pointing  as  it  does  to  a  future  state 
for  the  reparation  of  all  the  injuries  of  man  towards  God,  or  of  men  towards 
each  other.— Eccl.  xii.  14  ;  xi.  9  ;  Matt.  vi.  19,  20 ;  Isa.  xi.  9. 
VOL.  VII. G 


146  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

recourse  to  arithmetic.  They  institute  a  calculation  upon 
the  subject,  and  on  their  respective  summations  of  all  the 
ills  of  life  and  all  its  enjoyments,  profess  to  make  out  such 
a  preponderance  of  the  good  over  the  evil,  as  sufficiently 
to  vindicate  the  benevolence  of  God,  and  this  in  midst  of 
all  the  sufferings  to  which  humanity  is  exposed.  We  shall 
not  repeat  what  we  have  said  on  the  extreme  uncertainty 
and  precariousness  of  such  an  argument.  But  we  bid  you 
recollect  in  what  way  the  reasoning  is  extricated  and 
placed  on  a  surer  and  firmer  basis^ — ^when  we  take  a  fuller 
view  of  the  Divine  character,  and  admit  into  our  reckon- 
ing the  truth  and  justice  of  God  as  well  as  His  loving-kind- 
ness and  tender  mercy.  It  makes  all  the  difference  which 
there  is  between  entire  and  multilated  premises — the  one 
leading  to  a  stable,  and  the  other  to  a  most  lame  and  im- 
potent conclusion.  For,  let  us  take  the  entire  instead  of 
the  partial  view  of  the  Godhead,  and  then  take  the  un- 
doubted phenomenon  along  with  us — that  various  and  mani- 
fold as  the  distresses  of  life  are,  they  in  their  vast  major- 
ity and  amount  are  referable  to  moral  causes — that  if  men 
cease  to  be  wicked,  all  wretchedness  and  woe  would  in  a 
great  measure  be  banished  from  society— and  that,  such 
are  the  physical  capabilities  of  our  world  for  making  a 
virtuous  species  happy,  if  the  character  of  heaven  were 
re-estabHshed  upon  earth,  the  blessedness  of  heaven  would 
be  forthwith  realized.  Thus  if  we  take  a  sufficiently  com- 
plex and  comprehensive  view  of  the  economy  under  which 
we  sit,  and  of  all  the  elements  which  are  concerned  in  it, 
we  shall  clear  our  way  through  difficulties  that  were 
otherwise  inexplicable — in  so  far,  at  least,  that  instead  of  a 
hopeless  and  impracticable  enigma,  we  shall  arrive  at  an 
approximate  solution,  with  enough  of  likelihood  to  estab- 
lish a  clear  preference  over  all  the  infidel  theories  which 
are  opposed  to  it.  And  the  explanation  is,  that  God  loves 
the  happiness  of  His  creatures,  but  loves  their  virtues 
more ;  and  though  a  God  of  love,  who  rejoices  over  the 
face  of  a  smiling  creation.  He  is  also  a  God  of  righteous- 
ness, whose  paramount  demand  is  for  the  moral  integrity 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  147 

of  all  His  offspring;  and  who,  in  the  exercise  of  a  parental 
discipline,  lets  fall  the  displeasure  of  his  offended  justice  on 
the  children  of  disobedience. 

13.  Such,  then,  is  the  difficulty  attendant  on  one  treat- 
ment of  the  first  great  doctrine  in  natural  theology — ^the 
doctrine  of  a  God  ;  and  such  is  the  method  of  being  helped 
out  of  it.  And  there  is  a  difficulty  attendant  on  the  very 
same  treatment  of  its  second  great  doctrine — the  doctrine 
of  man's  immortality;  and  our  method  of  being  helped  out 
of  it  is  also  the  same.  We  do  not  see  how  it  is  possible  to 
make  out  a  theological  argument  for  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  if  we  have  nothing  else  but  the  single  attribute 
of  the  Divine  goodness  to  go  upon.  Nevertheless,  many 
of  those  who  take  this  defective  view  of  the  character  of 
God  do  make  the  attempt,  and  in  this  way  they  fail. 
They  first  reason  for  His  goodness  from  the  numerous 
beatitudes  of  human  life,  and  then  tell  us  of  the  many  ills 
also  to  which  it  is  exposed,  and  to  repair  which  this  same 
goodness  requires  that  there  shall  be  a  futurity  where 
compensation  shall  be  made  for  all  our  sufferings,  and 
where  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  for  ever  flee  away.  You 
will  perceive  the  frailty  of  this  argument  in  that  it  involves 
a  petitio  principii,  and  is  chargeable  with  the  vice  of  rea- 
soning in  a  circle.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  we  look  to  the 
goodness  alone  of  the  God  who  is  above,  and  that  apart 
from  His  truth  and  justice  ;  and  on  the  other,  look  to  the 
phenomena  alone  of  happiness  and  misery  below,  and  that 
apart  from  the  causes  that  gave  them  birth — then  from 
the  phenomena  thus  read  and  thus  interpreted,  which  pre- 
sent us  with  but  a  limited  and  imperfect  happiness,  and  on 
which  there  lies  the  burden  of  many  and  most  grievous 
exceptions,  we  can  only  infer  a  goodness  alike  limited  and 
alike  imperfect,  and  burdened,  too,  with  all  the  excep- 
tions which  are  forced  upon  our  observation  in  the  scene 
before  our  eyes.  To  take  up  with  a  larger  goodness  than 
this,  and  thence  to  infer  that  there  must  be  a  future  state 
beyond  the  grave,  where  all  the  ills  of  our  present  state 
are  redressed  and  rectified,  is  purely  gratuitous.    We  have 


148  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

no  right  to  assume  a  higher  goodness  than  precisely  that 
which  things  present  lead  us  to  infer  ;  and  if  things  present 
warrant  the  inference  of  such  a  goodness,  then  it  were  a 
contradiction  to  say  that  there  is  aught  in  things  present 
which  should  require  the  vindication  of  it.  It  must  be  ob- 
viously a  goodness  which  overlaps  the  phenomena  of  our 
visible  world,  or  a  greater  goodness  than  that  which  we 
should  conclude  from  the  phenomena  themselves — it  must 
be  from  the  excess  only  of  the  one  goodness  over  the  other 
that  we  can  reason  for  a  better  and  a  happier  world  than 
we  now  occupy — a  world  freed  from  the  distempers  which 
vex  and  agonize  the  life  that  now  is.  There  must  be  a 
flaw  in  such  an  argumentation,  by  which  we  infer  a  good- 
ness from  the  phenomena  of  a  world  that  we  do  see — 
which  goodness,  at  the  same  time  is  so  incongruous  with 
these  phenomena,  that  for  its  vindcation  we  must  have 
recourse  to  a  world  which  we  do  not  see.  There  is  some- 
thing illogical  in  this  alternation — first  from  given  pre- 
mises to  a  conclusion,  and  then  from  that  conclusion  back 
again,  in  order  to  extend  and  rectify  the  premises  whence 
it  has  been  drawn.  There  is  an  infirmity  in  the  whole  of  this 
argument,  but  an  infirmity  which  altogether  rises  from  the 
confinement  of  our  view  to  the  one  attribute  of  benevolence, 
as  if  by  itself  it  constituted  the  entire  character  of  God. 

14.  And  accordingly,  when  along  with  His  benevolence 
we  admit  His  justice  into  our  reckoning,  the  argument 
for  man's  immortality  is  thenceforth  placed  on  a  basis  of 
firmer  contexture  than  before.  In  the  first  place,  let  both 
the  happiness  and  the  misery  of  human  life  be  viewed  in 
connection  with  their  causes,  and  we  will  not  fail  to  ob- 
serve that  a  universal  virtue  in  the  world  would  insure  an 
all  but  universal  happiness,  which,  in  the  great  amount  of 
it,  is  marred  and  prevented  only  by  the  wickedness  of  men 
— ^a  complex  phenomenon  this,  that  receives  its  likeliest 
explanation  from  the  complex  character  of  the  Godhead, 
as  made  up  not  of  perfect  benevolence  alone,  but  of 
perfect  benevolence  in  conjunction  with  a  justice  that 
is  also  perfect  and  inflexible.     Now,  the  economy  that 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  149 

we  should  expect  from  the  hands  of  such  a  God— we 
mean  His  ultimate  and  everlasting  economy,  whatever 
the  preparatory  steps  might  be  which  should  lead  to 
its  conclusive  establishment — were  a  creation  within  the 
precincts  of  which  the  union  of  perfect  virtue  and  per- 
fect blessedness  were  fully  realized  by  one  and  all,  whether 
of  an  unfallen  or  of  a  reclaimed  family,  over  whom  and 
in  the  midst  of  whom  He  rejoiced.  Now,  it  is  quite 
obvious  of  our  present  life  that,  though  it  might  be  a  pre- 
paration for  the  ushering  in  of  such  an  economy,  it  is 
not  the  economy  itself;  for  here  the  good  and  bad,  the 
tares  and  the  wheat,  are  mixed  together  into  one  society ; 
and  not  to  speak  of  the  triumphs  of  prosperous  villainy,  on 
the  one  hand,  or  the  sufferings  of  injured  and  oppressed 
innocence,  on  the  other,  the  very  presence  and  juxtaposi^ 
tion  of  moral  evil,  the  very  contiguity  of  the  wicked  to  the 
righteous,  so  common  within  the  limits  of  the  same  neigh- 
borhood, and  often  within  the  bosom  of  the  same  family, 
however  useful  it  might  prove  in  transitu  to  the  disci- 
pline and  the  education  of  those  who  are  in  training  here 
for  the  eternity  hereafter,  is  not  likely  to  endure  forever 
under  the  government  of  a  God,  who,  even  with  a  benevo- 
lence that  is  infinite,  might  still  be  a  God  who  loveth 
righteousness  and  hateth  iniquity.  There  is  much,  there- 
fore, in  the  state  of  our  present  world,  when  its  pheno- 
mena are  fully  read  and  rightly  interpreted,  to  warrant 
the  expectation,  that  a  time  for  the  final  reparation  of  all 
those  grievous  unfitnesses  and  inequalities  is  yet  coming — 
when  the  good  and  the  evil  shall  be  separated  into  two 
distinct  societies,  and  the  same  God  who,  in  virtue  of  His 
justice,  shall  appear  to  the  one  in  the  character  of  an 
avenger,  shall  in  virtue  of  His  love,  stand  forth  to  the 
other  as  the  kind  and  munificent  Father  of  a  duteous  off- 
spring, shielded  by  His  paternal  care  from  all  that  can 
offend  or  annoy  in  mansions  of  unspotted  holiness. 

15.  But  for  the  element  of  justice,  viewed  as  distinct 
from  benevolence,  both  in  itself  and  in  the  character  of  the 
Deity,  we  should  have  no  stepping-stone  by  which  to  arrive 


150  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

at  this  conclusion ;  and  the  utiUtarian  morahty  which  would 
merge  or  confound  these  two  into  one,  would  obscure  the 
evidence  for  the  two  great  doctrines  of  our  natural  theology, 
while  it  feels  no  need,  and  therefore  makes  no  demand,  for 
any  revealed  theology  to  supplement  its  lessons,  and  shed 
the  luster  of  a  higher  manifestation  upon  both. 

16.  In  as  far  as  the  intimations  of  conscience  are  felt  or 
believed  by  us  to  be  the  intimations  of  a  God,  in  so  far  shall 
we  be  led  to  conceive  of  ourselves  as  placed  under  a  moral 
government,  and  with  the  usual  sanctions  too — that  is,  of 
rewards  for  obedience,  and  of  penalties  for  the  transgression 
of  its  laws.  The  rudiments  of  such  a  conviction,  we  feel 
persuaded,  are  to  be  found  everywhere ;  nor  will  it  be  found 
difficult  to  awaken  it  into  something  of  a  distinct  and 
sensible  form.  This  is  often  done  by  a  voice  from  without 
— as  of  a  missionary  when  he  addresses,  perhaps  for  the 
first  time,  the  rudest  of  nature's  children,  and  may  in  his 
first  lesson  make  mention  of  God  and  of  His  law.  There  is 
nothing  in  this  that  is  incongruous,  but  the  contrary,  either 
with  the  notion  of  that  Great  Spirit  who  is  recognized  and 
commands  the  homage  of  the  wandering  tribes  in  America; 
or  of  that  unseen  and  eternal  power  who  is  imaged  forth  in 
the  idols  of  Hindostan.  In  short,  let  men  be  told  in  any 
region  of  the  globe,  on  the  one  hand,  of  their  Maker  and 
Sovereign,  and  on  the  other,  of  the  rightful  authority  which 
belongs  to  Him  over  the  creatures  whom  He  has  made ; 
and  there  may  be  Nature's  disinclination,  but  it  is  not 
Nature's  darkness  anywhere  which  prevents  a  ready  coa- 
lescence with  the  theme.  There  is  enough  of  light  for  the 
apprehension  of  what  is  thus  said  even  in  the  minds  of 
savages  ;  and  if  not  enough  to  carry  their  belief,  at  least  as 
much  as  should  command  their  attention  to  the  further 
lessons  of  him  who  has  come  to  tell  them  of  sin  and  of 
salvation.  He  does  not  outrun  their  intelligence  when  he 
speaks  to  them  of  the  great  and  invisible  Sovereign  who  is 
above,  and  of  the  duties  which  they  owe  to  Him;  and  how- 
ever pure  and  rational  may  be  the  theism  in  which  he  deals, 
there  is  a  preparation  beforehand  in  the  consciences  evea 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  151 


of  these  simple  wanderers  of  the  desert,  for  the  word  thus 
brought  to  them  from  afar. 

17.  Such  is  the  natural  theism  that  more  or  less  prevails 
throughout  the  world— a  certain  sense  of  God  and  of  His 
law ;  and,  aiong  with  this,  as  its  unavoidable  accompaniment, 
in  all  various  degrees  of  strength  and  sensibility,  a  certain 
sense  of  guilt.  For  inseparable  from  their  feeling  of  a  law 
must  be  the  feeling  with  all  men  of  their  distance  and 
deficiency  therefrom.  Their  own  consciousness  will  tell 
how  short,  nay  how  contrary  they  are,  from  the  standard 
and  rule  of  their  own  consciences  ;  and  by  their  disobedi- 
ence to  the  voice  of  the  monitor  within,  will  they  estimate 
the  measure  of  their  disobedience  to  the  counterpart  voice 
of  the  Divinity  above  them.  It  is  thus  that  Nature's  sense 
of  a  God  is  so  generally,  we  could  even  say  so  universally, 
followed  up  by  Natui'e's  fear  of  an  avenger ;  for  she  is 
wholly  a  stranger  to  that  perverse  and  artificial  sophistry 
which  would  sink  the  justice  or  authority  of  the  Sovereign 
in  the  mere  fondness  of  an  indulgent  parent ;  and  so  the 
theology  of  conscience,  or  which  is  the  same  thing,  of 
humanity  at  large,  is  in  all  nations  the  theology  of  fear. 
Nature  rejects  the  paradox,  or  rather  the  absurdity  of  a 
government  without  sanctions  ;  and  hence,  though  aggra- 
vated and  distorted  by  ignorance  or  superstition,  the  re- 
ligion of  terror  is  not  only  prevalent  throughout  the  world, 
but  has  a  foundation  in  the  just  apprehensions  of  the  human 
spirit.  It  is  not  confidence  in  a  propitious,  but  it  is  the 
dread  of  an  oflfended  God,  which  forms  the  prevalent  re- 
ligious feeling  of  our  species — as  is  manifest  both  in  the 
sacrifices  and  bloody  rites  of  Paganism,  and  in  the  delusive 
opiates  of  Popery,  which  have  been  alike  devised  to  quell 
the  misgivings  that  are  felt  in  the  hearts  of  all  men. 

18.  And  this  characteristic  in  the  theology  of  nature  is 
fully  responded  to  in  the  science  and  the  ethical  systems 
of  our  best  philosophers,  insomuch  that  what  forms  the 
dread  of  the  unlettered  multitude,  and  therefore  of  little 
account  with  some  who  but  regard  it  as  a  mere  popular 
sensibility,  is  also  confessed  to  be  a  great,  nay  an  insoluble 


152  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

difficulty,  in  our  schools  of  most  enlightened  jurisprudence. 
There  is  no  escaping  the  conviction  that  a  moral  govern- 
ment without  sanctions  is  a  nullity ;  and  that  if  God  is  to 
exact,  and  man  at  his  pleasure  with  impunity  to  disobey — 
then  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe  possesses  in  heaven  but 
the  semblance  of  a  throne.  And  the  urgent  question  is — 
how  can  the  breach  between  God  and  a  guilty  world  be 
repaired,  or  how  can  a  readjustment  be  effected  between  a 
righteous  Lawgiver  and  the  transgressors  of  His  law? 
This  is  the  question  of  all  others  on  which  the  destinies  of 
the  human  race  are  suspended.  It  is  a  question  which 
nature  can  originate,  but  which  nature  cannot  resolve — a 
difficulty  in  which  natural  religion  has  landed  the  world, 
nay,  which  she  herself  has  demonstrated,  but  from  which 
she  can  discover  no  outlet,  and  devise  no  possible  way  of 
extrication. 

19.  We  are  aware  that  some  of  the  pious  and  well-mean- 
ing, but  withal  mistaken  friends  of  Christianity,  have  looked 
with  distrust  and  disquietude  on  the  pretensions  of  natural 
theology,  as  if  they  dreaded  every  accession  made  either 
to  her  doctrines  or  her  evidences  by  any  of  the  sciences — 
lest,  in  the  apprehension  of  her  disciples,  it  should  leave  a 
gospel  and  a  revelation  uncalled  for.  Bishop  Butler  speaks 
of  Christianity  as  a  supplement  to  natural  religion ;  and  it 
may  readily  be  thought  that  the  more  which  natural  religion 
discovers,  the  less  may  Christianity  have  to  supplement. 
But  in  truth  it  is  all  the  other  way.  For  let  us  only  con- 
sider what  the  doctrines  are  on  which  the  natural  theology 
of  science  might  possibly  cast  a  greater  light  than  the 
natural  theology  of  conscience.  Does  it  multiply  the  proofs 
for  the  existence  of  God  ? — then  it  only  enhances  the  obli- 
gation under  which  we  lie,  of  giving  most  solemn  and  re- 
spectful entertainment  to  any  message  that  bears  upon  it 
the  signatures  of  a  likely  revelation  from  Himself.  Or  does 
it  tell  more  forcibly  and  fully  of  His  character? — then  surely 
will  it  but  strengthen  His  claim  of  being  listened  to  when 
He  speaketh,  and  believed  in  when  He  makes  known  His 
ways  and  His  judgments  to  the  children  of  men.     Or  does 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  153 

it  look  on  the  Divine  economy  under  which  we  sit,  as  having 
in  it  the  nature  of  a  Divine  government,  where  God  is  the 
rightful  Sovereign,  and  we  the  rightful  subjects  of  His 
authority  ?  Does  it  look  on  the  jurisprudence  which  this 
relation  implies  as  a  reality? — then  all  we  ask  is  but  a 
philosophic  steadfastness  and  consistency  at  its  hands,  that 
it  may  look  on  the  question,  "  How  shall  God,  in  the  high 
office  of  a  Lawgiver,  deal  with  men,  the  undoubted  trans- 
gressors of  His  law  ?"  as  a  reality  also,  not  to  be  blinked 
but  disposed  of.  Or,  by  help  of  its  sounder  ethics,  does  it 
lead  us  to  regard  His  truth  and  justice  as  no  less  the  distinct 
and  integral  characteristics  of  the  Deity,  than  are  His 
benevolence  or  His  wisdom  ? — this  does  not  lay  the  per- 
plexity, but  only  makes  it  all  the  more  helpless  and  embar- 
rassing ;  for  how  shall  a  God  with  such  attributes  leave 
either  the  sins  of  our  history  unreckoned  with  or  the  sancti- 
ties of  His  own  nature  without  a  vindication  ?  To  make 
clear  the  terms  of  this  dilemma  is  one  thing — to  solve  the 
dilemma  is  another.  Natural  theology  achieves  but  the 
first.  The  second  is  beyond  her.  She  can  tell  the  difficulty, 
but  she  cannot  resolve  the  difficulty.  Revelation  is  called 
for,  not  merely  as  a  supplement  to  the  light  and  the  in- 
formations of  nature  ;  but  far  more  urgently  called  for  as  a 
solvent  for  nature's  perplexities  and  fears.  Natural  theology 
possesses  the  materials  out  of  which  the  enigma  is  framed ; 
but  possesses  not  the  light  by  which  to  unriddle  it.  It  can 
state  the  question  which  itself  it  cannot  satisfy  ;  but  the 
statement  of  the  question  is  not  the  solution  of  it.  Natural 
theology  prompts  the  inquiry  ;  but  it  is  another  and  a  dis- 
tinct theology  from  that  of  nature  which  meets  the  inquiry, 
and  tells  man  w^hat  he  shall  do  to  be  saved. 

20.  There  is  no  cause  for  jealousy.  All  the  illustration 
which  science  can  shed  upon  natural  religion  only  serves 
to  make  the  darkness  of  man's  ulterior  prospects  more  vis- 
ible than  before.  It  manifests  the  danger,  but  casts  not 
one  ray  of  light  on  the  method  of  deliverance  therefrom. 
With  every  possible  accession  which  can  be  made  to  its 
discoveries  and  its  doctrines — so  far  from  a  revelation  be- 


154  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ing  thereby  superseded,  the  genuine  and  legitimate  effect 
on  every  rightly  exercised  spirit  is  to  awaken  a  more  earn- 
est sense  of  its  necessity.  Let  us  imagine  of  natural  the- 
ology that  all  which  lies  within  her  province  were  bright- 
ened to  the  uttermost,  and  even  to  the  degree  of  certainty 
— what,  after  all,  were  the  great  certainty  wherewith  we 
had  to  do,  and  which  should  thus  be  placed  in  open  mani- 
festation before  us? — that  our  guilty  species  is  under  the 
displeasure  of  an  offended  God,  and  on  its  descending  way 
to  an  undone  eternity.  The  place  and  the  path  of  safety, 
if  such  there  be,  as  being  beyond  her  province,  are  alike 
unknown  to  her. 

21.  The  question  is.  How  can  a  God  of  justice  take  into 
acceptance  the  sinners  who  have  broken  His  law  ?  Or  how, 
after  that  His  truth  and  the  authority  of  His  government 
stand  committed  to  the  penalties  of  their  disobedience — 
how  can  this  authority  be  maintained,  and  yet  these  penal- 
ties be  averted — and  without  disparagement,  too,  to  the 
high  and  holy  attributes  of  a  nature  which  is  unchange- 
able ?  This  is  that  problem  in  the  high  jurisprudence  of 
Heaven  which  angels  might  desire  to  look  into,  but  which 
even  angels  might  not  be  able  to  resolve — and  far  less  can 
natural  theology,  limited  as  it  is  within  the  humble  range 
and  humbler  faculties  of  men.  Natural  theology  might  an- 
nounce the  problem,  but  cannot  resolve  it.  It  might  bright- 
en even  into  clear  and  capital  letters  the  wording  of  the 
question  ;  but  it  can  neither  frame  the  reply,  nor  furnish  the 
premises  on  which  it  shall  be  founded.  There  is  not, 
therefore,  an  utter  extinction  of  all  light ;  for  if  so,  both 
the  question  and  its  answer  had  been  ahke  unknown  to  us. 
Nature  cannot  be  in  total  darkness,  else  it  never  could  have 
lifted  the  inquiry — Wherewithal  shall  men  appear  before 
God  ?  But  it  is  in  total  darkness  for  the  answer  or  way  of 
meeting  this  inquiry,  and  all  the  light  which  it  has,  instead 
of  helping  to  dissipate  the  mystei'y,  only  serves  to  deepen 
it  the  more. 

22.  It  follows  not,  because  natural  theology  is  the  precur- 
sor of  Christianity,  that  it  is  in  the  same  way  that  a  premise 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY.  155 

goes  before  its  conclusion.  There  is  no  logical  dependence 
of  the  latt'er  upon  the  former ;  and  far  less  could  we  take 
our  departure  from  the  former,  so  as  to  arrive  by  the  foot- 
steps of  a  logical  demonstration  at  a  discovery  of  the  latter. 
It  is  not  an  argumentative  priority,  as  in  a  process  of  rea- 
soning, or  of  synthetic  derivation,  but  only  an  historical 
priority  in  the  mind  of  the  inquirer.  The  natural  precedes 
the  Christian  theology,  just  as  the  cry  of  distress  precedes 
the  relief  which  is  offered  to  it,  or  rather,  as  the  sensation 
of  distress  precedes  the  grateful  and  willing  acceptation  of 
the  remedy  which  is  suited  to  it.  Man,  though  in  full  pos- 
session of  a  natural  theology,  never  could,  by  any  method  of 
deduction,  have  fancied  or  framed  the  system  of  Christianity 
out  of  it.  Yet  this  hinders  not  that  when  Christianity  is 
brought  to  him  by  external  revelation,  a  most  precious  and 
satisfactory  evidence,  even  the  evidence  of  their  perfect 
adaptation  may  be  struck  out  between  its  doctrines  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  felt  wants  or  aspirations  of  nature  upon 
the  other.  The  light  which  resides  in  natural  theology 
singly  never  could  have  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  gospel ; 
but  when  natural  theology  and  the  gospel  are  brought  to- 
gether, the  conjunct  light  which  thence  arises  might  lead  to 
the  discernment  of  its  truth.  The  complete  adjustment 
which  obtains  between  the  parts  of  the  one  and  counter- 
parts of  the  other,  might  bespeak  the  intelligence  of  a  God, 
and  demonstrate  of  Him  who  is  the  Author  of  human  na- 
ture, that  He  is  the  author  of  Christianity  also.  It  is  thus 
that  the  law  in  our  hearts  might  still  perform  the  same  office 
which  the  law  of  Moses  did  in  the  days  of  the  apostles — 
when,  acting  the  part  of  a  schoolmaster  for  bringing  men 
to  Christ,  it  shut  them  up  unto  the  faith  of  His  gospel.* 

*  Every  possible  addition  to  the  evidence  of  natural  theology  but  en- 
hances the  diflSculty  of  the  question,  Wherewdth  shall  a  man  appear  before 
God  ?  and  so  enhances  our  need  of  a  revelation. — ^Acts  xvi.  30  ;  Gal.  iii.  23 ; 
Ps.  Ixxxv.  10. 


BOOK  III. 
EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

CERTAIN  PREFATORY  REASONINGS. 

1.  There  are  some  who  must  be  satisfied  that  a  revela- 
tion is  necessary,  ere  they  will  proceed  to  inquire  whether 
it  is  true.  There  seems  to  be  no  logical  propriety  in  this. 
It  presumes  a  greater  acquaintance  with  the  principles 
and  poUcy  of  the  Divine  administration  than  actually  be- 
longs to  us.  We  may  be  far  more  able  to  estimate  the 
palpable  evidences  of  a  fact  than  to  assign  the  hidden 
causes  in  which  it  originated,  and  just  because  we  are 
better  qualified  to  observe  than  to  speculate.  A  revela- 
tion is  an  historical  event ;  and  to  ascertain  if  it  have 
actually  and  historically  taken  place,  all  that  may  be  re- 
quired is  to  examine  the  monuments  of  its  reality  which 
are  still  before  our  eyes,  or  trace  the  vestiges  left  behind 
it  upon  earth.  But  ere  we  can  decide  upon  its  necessity 
we  must  know  the  purposes  of  God,  or  be  able  to  tell  the 
reasons  of  state  which  influence  the  proceedings  of  heav- 
en's high  monarchy.  It  savors  more,  we  think,  not  of 
modesty  alone,  but  of  philosophic  wisdom,  to^  quit  the 
transcendental  for  the  accessible  inquiry,  or  to  recall  our- 
selves from  the  distances  and  depths  of  an  unknown  terri- 
tory, that  we  may  become  learners,  and  be  acquainted 
with  the  certainties  at  hand. 

2.  There  are  two  distinct  aspects  under  which  this  neces- 
sity for  a  revelation  might  be  contemplated.  It  might  be 
viewed  either  with  a  reference  to  the  general  state  of  man- 
kind before  and  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  or 
with  a  reference  to  the  wants  and  personal  feelings  of  a 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTUNITY.  157 

single  inquirer.  It  is  chiefly  in  the  former  of  these  lights 
that  this  theme  has  been  regarded  by  those  who  have  tried 
to  make  it  subserve  a  demonstration  on  the  side  of  the 
Christian  rehgion:  and  so  they  tell  us,  as  does  Dr.  Leland 
in  his  book  on  this  very  subject,  of  the  state  of  morality  in 
the  heathen  v^^orld.  They  present  us  with  a  contrast  be- 
tween ancient  and  modern  times ;  they  expatiate  on  the 
darkness  and  the  idolatry  of  paganism,  and  hold  out  a 
frightful  picture  of  the  atrocities  and  the  vices  by  which 
society  was  distempered  ere  that  the  light  of  the  Christian 
religion  shone  upon  our  earth;  and  on  these  premises  would 
they  base  a  presumption,  if  not  a  strong  probability,  for  that 
religion  being  true.  Still  my  preference  is  for  making  a 
short  cut,  as  it  were,  instantly  and  at  once  to  the  main 
question,  by  laying  an  immediate  hand  on  its  direct  evi- 
dences, so  that  instead  of  getting  at  the  truth  of  the  gospel 
through  the  medium  of  its  necessity,  I  should  feel  as  if  I 
were  treading  on  a  far  more  solid  pathway,  or  making  a 
far  surer  transition  by  turning  about  the  inference,  and 
stepping  onward  to  the  necessity  for  a  gospel  through  the 
medium  of  its  truth.  We  think  that  ours  is  a  safer  ground, 
whereas  that  there  is  a  somewhat  of  the  a  'priori  spirit  in 
their  method  of  dealing  with  the  question.  We  confess 
our  inability  to  surmise,  and  far  less  to  affirm,  what  God 
will  do  in  given  circumstances ;  and  would  far  rather  place 
our  confidence  in  the  informations  of  history,  if  she  have 
any  to  offer,  on  what  God  has  done.  We  know  vastly  too 
little  of  that  mysterious  Being  who  suffered  so  many  ages 
of  darkness  and  depravity-to  roll  on  ere  that  Christianity 
arose  upon  our  world,  and  still  leaves  the  great  majority  of 
our  race  unvisited  and  unblessed  by  her  illuminations — we 
confess  ourselves  too  unequal  to  the  explanation  of  such 
phenomena  as  these,  for  confidently  saying  that  because 
men  needed  a  revelation,  therefore,  as, a  matter  of  neces- 
sary inference,  a  revelation  was  in  all  likelihood,  if  not  in 
all  certainty,  to  be  looked  for.  For  ourselves,  we  do  not 
feel  the  strength  of  this  argument,  and  can  therefore  have 
little  or  no  value  for  it.     We  would  rather  limit  ourselves 


158  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

to  the  task  of  seeking  what  is  or  what  has  been,  than  spec- 
ulate on  what  should  be.  The  a  priori  evidence  which 
would  lead  us  to  anticipate,  is,  in  our  reckoning,  of  no  esti- 
mation when  compared  with  the  a  posteriori  evidence 
which  would  lead  us  to  infer ;  and  therefore,  instead  of 
founding  our  convictions  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel  on  the 
real  or  imagined  necessities  beforehand  for  such  a  dispen- 
sation, would  we  look  both  to  the  event  in  itself,  and  to 
the  events  which  followed  it,  and  thus  build  an  argument 
for  the  reality  of  our  faith  on  the  basis  of  its  existing  me- 
morials and  its  recorded  testimonies. 

3.  But  there  is  a  difference  between  this  historical  neces- 
sity, if  it  may  be  so  termed,  for  a  revelation,  which  reason- 
ers  try  to  make  out  by  a  general  survey  of  the  state  of  the 
world,  or  its  various  countries,  in  times  preceding  and  those 
which  followed  the  Christian  era,  and  that  experimental 
necessity  which  is  felt  by  individuals,  when,  laboring  under 
the  conviction  of  guilt,  they  seek  for  a  place  of  enlargement 
and  deliverance  therefrom.  The  latter,  we  say,  is  far  more 
available  than  the  former  in  the  way  of  argument  for  the 
faith.  And  the  difference  is  this — that  in  the  one  case  the 
inference  is  grounded  on  what  we  think  to  be  the  likeliest 
for  God ;  in  the  other  case,  the  inference  is  grounded  on 
what  we  find  to  have  been  the  best  for  ourselves ;  or,  in 
other  words,  there  is  all  the  difference  between  a  fancy 
and  a  finding.  The  one  is  an  excogitation,  the  other  an 
experience ;  and  so  much  better  than  the  former  as  we 
know  ourselves  better  than  we  know  God.  And  let  it  be 
observed  that  experience  never  speaks  more  powerfully 
home  than  when  it  is  on  the  question  of  our  life  or  death, 
or  a  matter  in  which  our  own  personal  interests  and  feel- 
ings are  vitally  concerned.  When  the  conscience-stricken 
sinner  is  made  to  feel  that  he  is  in  the  hands  of  an  angry 
God — when  pursued  by  the  sense  alike  of  guilt  and  of  danger, 
he  casts  about  for  a  way  of  extrication-— when  after,  it  may 
be,  a  thousand  weary  and  anxious  and  unavailing  efforts, 
his  mind  is  at  length  put  into  busy  converse  with  the  gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ,  and  for  his  complicated  distress  finds  a 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  159 

precise  counterpart  in  the  complex  proposition  which  is 
set  forth  there,  a  remedy  of  various  parts  suited  all  over  to 
his  felt  and  various  exigencies — v^^hen  he  finds  that  its  doc- 
trines, on  the  moment  they  are  embraced,  give  peace  to  his 
heart,  and  that  its  precepts,  v^hen  they  become  his  adopted 
taskwork,  serve  to  purify  and  exalt  his  nature  ;  and,  above 
all,  that  its  bidden  prayers  are  followed  up  in  his  own  ex- 
perience by  the  fulfillment  of  its  declared  promises — in  all 
this  there  is  the  light  of  a  most  precious  and  satisfying  mani- 
festation to  him  who  is  the  subject  of  it.  With  him  it  was 
the  felt  necessity  of  a  revelation  which  conducted  to  the 
persuasion  of  its  reality.  Its  impulse  carried  him  to  his 
Bible ;  and  because  of  the  striking  and  numerous  adapta- 
tions in  this  book  to  the  peculiarities  of  his  own  constitution, 
he  recognizes  an  Author  who  could  find  His  way  through 
all  the  arcana  of  his  moral  nature — a  way  so  alien  to  the 
first  conception,  and  so  much  above  the  discovery  of  man, 
that  verily  God  must  have  framed  this  volume,  verily  God 
must  be  in  it  of  a  truth.* 

4.  But  it  is  altogether  worthy  of  being  observed,  that 
though  it  was  a  felt  necessity  which  gave  the  first  impulse 
to  this  train  of  reasoning,  the  mere  necessity  itself  would 
have  proved  a  most  insufficient  basis  for  it.  The  necessity 
could  never  of  itself  have  led  us  to  devise,  and  far  less  to 
discover  the  truths  of  that  gospel  which  has  only  been 
made  known  to  us  by  a  day-spring  from  on  high.  The 
disease  of  our  nature  could  not  alone  have  suggested  the 
remedy;  and  it  is  only  when  this  felt  disease  and  its  pro- 
posed remedy  are  brought  into  juxtaposition  that  the  light 
of  a  satisfying  evidence  is  struck  out  from  the  adaptation 
between  them.  We  must  have  both  the  objective  and  the 
subjective  before  us  ere  we  can  perceive  their  fitness  to 
each  other,  or  infer  from  this  observed  fitness  that  a  de- 
signer had  to  do  with  them.  Still  the  fitness  of  the  Bible, 
or  of  the  truths  which  are  in  it,  to  the  necessities  of  the  hu- 
man spirit,  may  as  clearly  evince  the  hand  of  a  designer 

*  Difference  between  the  historical  and  the  personal  necessity  for  a  reve- 
lation.   The  historical  not  overlooked  in  Scripture. — Rom.  i.  21,  22.  i 


160  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

in  the  construction  of  this  volume,  as  the  fitness  of  the 
world,  or  of  the  things  which  are  in  it,  evinces  the  same 
hand  in  the  construction  of  external  nature.  They  are 
both  cases  of  adaptation,  and  the  one  is  just  as  good  an 
argument  for  a  revealed  as  the  other  is  for  a  natural  theol- 
ogy. The  argument  is  altogether  premature  if  we  propose 
to  base  it  on  the  necessity  alone.  But  take  the  remedy 
along  with  it,  and  the  reasoning  changes  its  character  by 
changing  its  place.  Instead  of  a  conjectural  a  priori,  it 
now  becomes  an  experimental  and  an  a  posteriori  argu- 
ment.* 

5.  But  there  is  another  topic,  which,  as  affecting  the 
posterior  evidence  for  the  truth  of  revelation,  may  require 
to  be  adjusted  before  that  we  enter  on  the  consideration  of 
that  evidence.  The  greatest  of  our  historical  proofs  in 
behalf  of  Christianity  is  the  miraculous  power  said  to  have 
been  put  forth  by  its  first  teachers,  as  the  evidence  of  their 
supernatural  commission ;  but  it  has  been  contended  that 
such  in  their  very  nature  is  the  incredibility  of  miracles, 
as  to  place  them  beyond  the  reach  of  history  altogether, 
inasmuch  as  it  does  not  lie  within  the  power  of  this  great 
informer  of  all  that  is  past  to  accredit  such  events  as  these. 
Certain  it  is,  that  the  greater  the  unlikelihood  of  any  event, 
the  greater  is  the  amount  of  evidence  required  to  satisfy  us 
of  its  truth ;  and  that  such  unlikelihood  bears  a  proportion 
to  the  rarity  of  its  occurrence.  Now  what  class  of  events 
is  more  infrequent  than  miracles  ?  The  common  language 
respecting  them  may  be  very  incorrect,  but  still  it  is  be- 
cause of  their  exceeding  rarity  that  we  hear  them  spoken 
of  as  phenomena,  not  only  unsupported,  but  even  as  op- 
posed by  all  experience.  May  not  their  improbability, 
then,  be  so  great  as  that  no  testimony  can  possibly  over- 
come it?  One  thing  is  obvious,  that  whatever  the  improba- 
bility of  a  miracle  being  true,  there  is  no  improbability  in 
testimony  being  false.     There  is  something  very  uncom- 

*  The  personal  necessity  for  a  revelation  not  in  itself  an  evidence  of  that 
revelation,  but  the  adaptation  between  its  proposed  remedy  and  the  felt 
necessity  or  disease,  a  most  influential  argument. — 1  Cor.  xiv.  23,  24. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  161 

mon  in  a  miracle,  but  there  is  nothing  uncommon  in  a  lie ; 
and  surely  it  seems  the  more  rational  alternative  to  believe 
in  that  which  is  common,  rather  than  in  that  which  is  un- 
common ; — so  that  by  this  mode  of  reckoning — and  it  does 
look  very  plausible — when  a  miraculous  story  is  brought 
to  our  ears,  rather  than  admit  the  miracle  as  true  we 
should  count  on  the  story  as  not  true.  This,  though  briefly 
expressed,  forms  the  substance  of  Mr.  Hume's  famous 
demonstration,  not  against  the  alleged  miracles  of  the 
gospel  only,  but  against  all  miracles  ;  and  thus  he  tries  to 
make  good  the  position,  that  to  establish  the  truth  of  a 
miracle  is  an  achievement  utterly  beyond  the  power  of 
testimony. 

6.  I  have  elsewhere  met  this  argument  of  Mr.  Hume's 
by  an  attempted  refutation  of  my  own.*  What  led  me  to 
bestow  upon  it  an  independent  treatment  was  that  I  did 
not  feel  satisfied  with  any  of  the  former  replies  made  by  his 
antagonists  on  the  side  of  Christianity.  Of  these  the  fullest 
and  ablest  is  by  Dr.  Campbell,  of  Aberdeen,  whose  book 
on  miracles  I  recommend  to  your  careful  and  attentive 
perusal.  He  quite  succeeds  in  bringing  his  adversary  into 
inextricable  difficulties,  but  without,  in  my  opinion,  clear- 
ing his  own  way  to  an  unassailable  position  for  the  truth 
which  he  defends.  It  is  quite  possible  to  silence  an  oppo- 
nent by  convicting  him  of  sundry  and  glaring  derelictions 
from  his  own  principle,  yet  without  substituting  the  true 
principle  in  its  room,  or  setting  it  there  on  its  right  and  just 
foundation.  And  accordingly  the  attack  first  made  by  Hume 
has  been  renewed  at  various  times  by  his  successors  in  in- 
fidelity— more  especially  by  Laplace,  in  his  Essai  sur  les 
Prohahilites,  and  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  of  this  treatise. 
This  last  performance  was  exceedingly  well  met,  shortly 
after  it  made  its  appearance,  in  an  able  pamphlet  by  Dr. 
Somerville,  the  minister  of  Drumelzier  in  Peebles-shire.  I 
still  felt,  however,  that  notwithstanding  the  partial  success- 
es by  which  this  one  and  that  other  adversary  was  dis- 
armed, there  was  still  wanting  a  thorough  exposition  of 
*  See  Works,  yoI.  iii.  p.  70. 


162  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  whole  argument — which  I  desiderated  all  the  more, 
that  I  had  long  been  impressed  with  the  possibility  of  put- 
ting the  matter  in  such  a  light  as  might  conclusively  settle 
the  question,  and  place  it  for  ever  beyond  the  reach  of 
controversy.  What  I  have  since  published  on  this  subject 
in  a  preliminary  chapter  of  my  book  on  the  Evidences  of 
Christianity,  was  originally  given  in  four  lectures  to  the 
students  of  this  class,  but  which  I  must  now,  if  possible, 
condense  within  the  limits  of  a  single  address. 

7.  We,  in  the  first  place,  then,  would  discard  the  peculiar 
principle  adopted  by  Dr.  Campbell  respecting  the  evidence 
of  testimony.  We  do  not  think  that  our  belief  in  testimony 
is  an  ultimate  law  of  the  human  mind,  or  that  it  rests  on 
any  distinct  and  separate  principle  of  its  own.  We  con- 
•".eive  that  our  faith  in  testimony  is  just  as  resolvable  into 
our  faith  in  the  constancy  of  nature,  as  is  our  faith  in  any 
other  of  those  innumerable  cases,  where  from  one  term  of 
a  formerly  observed  sequence  we  infer  either  that  it  has 
been  preceded  or  that  it  will  be  followed  by  some  certain 
other  term.  An  event  which  we  have  not  seen,  and  the 
testimony  which  brings  it  to  our  ears,  we  regard  simply  as 
the  terms  of  a  progression,  whereof  the  testimony  is  a  con- 
sequent, and  the  event  an  antecedent ;  and  of  which  we 
conceive  that  they  stand  related  to  each  other  now  in  the 
same  way  that  we  have  observed  them  related  to  each 
other  before.  Or,  in  other  words,  we  infer  the  truth  of  the 
event  from  its  heard  testimony,  just  as  we  infer  the  reality 
of  any  antecedent  from  its  observed  consequent; — in  short, 
we  should  meet  the  deistical  just  as  we  have  already  met 
the  atheistical  reasoning  of  Mr.  Hume.  We  think  it  quite 
unnecessary  to  have  conjured  up  a  new  principle  for  the 
refutation  of  either.  We  fear  that  this  has  not  only  mysti- 
fied but  weakened  the  defensive  argument — for  a  God  in 
the  one  instance,  for  a  revelation  in  the  other.  If  we  must 
assign  two  separate  and  independent  sources  for  these  two 
kinds  of  evidence — we  mean  the  evidence  of  testim.ony  and 
that  of  experience — then  we  should  not  know  how  to  confront 
them  against  each  other,  or  how  to  institute  a  comparison 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  1G3 

between  them,  any  more  than  we  should  know  how  to  strike 
a  balance  between  things  incommensurate,  and  therefore 
incommensurable — so  as  to  say,  for  example,  whether  this 
line  or  that  surface  is  the  greater  of  two  quantities.  Things 
to  be  compared  with  each  other  in  degree,  must  in  kind  be 
homogeneous.  And  thus,  if  our  faith  in  testimony  is  to  be 
held  as  distinct  from  our  faith  in  experience,  we  should  be 
utterly  at  a  loss  to  decide  whether  the  event  of  which  we 
have  been  told,  or  the  opposite  event  which  we  should  have 
inferred  from  the  usual  way  in  which  antecedents  and  con- 
sequents follow  each  other,  which  of  these  is  to  be  regarded 
as  the  more,  and  which  of  them  the  less  credible  of  tbe  two. 
There  can  be  no  proportionality,  at  least  assignable  by  us, 
unless  there  be  a  common  standard  of  measurement  betwixt 
them.  We  should  therefore  like,  if  possible,  to  raise  our 
argument  in  defense  of  miracles,  even  as  we  did  our  argu- 
ment in  defense  of  a  God,  on  an  experimental  basis.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  we  were  led  to  accept  of  Mr.  Hume's 
premises,  and  with  him  to  view  the  question  as  a  contest 
between  opposite  experiences. 

8.  But  while  we  dissent  from  Dr.  Campbell  respecting 
the  origin  of  our  belief  in  testimony,  this  is  not  essential  to 
the  validity  of  our  argument  in  reply  to  Mr.  Hume.  Whether 
Dr.  Campbell  be  right  or  wrong  in  his  mental  theory,  the 
credibility  of  miracles,  on  the  report  of  eye-witnesses,  is  still 
capable  of  having  the  experimental  test  applied  to  it ;  and 
our  position  is,  that  it  will  survive  the  application.  A  refu- 
tation on  this  particular  ground  was  urgently  called  for ; 
nor  do  we  see  how  without  it  those  objections  could  have 
been  adequately  met,  which  were  still  reiterated,  and  from 
the  highest  quarters,  long  after  the  celebrated  essay  of  Dr. 
Campbell  had  been  given  to  the  world.  We  do  not  refuse 
with  him  the  experimental  test  of  Mr.  Hume,  and  think  it 
enough  for  the  exposure  of  his  sophistry,  simply  to  point 
out  the  error  which  he  has  made  in  the  application  of  it. 

9.  It  is  quite  true  that  testimony  has  often  deceived  me, 
and  it  is  just  as  true  that  I  never  saw  a  miracle,  of  which 
no  stricter  definition  need  at  present  be  given  than  that  it 


164  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

is  a  deviation  from  the  established  course  of  nature.  I,  on 
the  one  hand,  have  often  observed  the  falsehood  of  testi- 
mony— I,  on  the  other,  never  once  observed  any  failure  in 
the  constancy  of  nature.  It  seems  and  sounds  a  most 
rational  conclusion  from  these  premises,  that,  v^hen  told  of 
a  miracle,  I  should  reject  the  evidence  which  I  have  so 
often  found  to  be  variable,  and  keep  by  the  evidence  v^^hich 
has  never  disappointed  me.  In  other  words,  I  should 
calculate  that,  as  often  heretofore,  human  testimony  has 
been  false ;  and  that,  as  always  heretofore,  nature  abides 
unfaltering. 

10.  The  error  of  Mr.  Hume  lies  here.  He  has  failed  to 
resolve  testimony  into  its  distinct  species.  He  has  chosen 
not  to  observe  that  of  two  kinds  of  testimony,  the  one  may 
possess  wholly  different  characteristics,  and  have  been 
given  in  wholly  different  circumstances  from  the  other ; 
and  that  while  the  one  may  often,  the  other  may  never 
once  have  deceived  us.  Instead  of  this,  he  has  lumped  to- 
gether all  sorts  of  testimony  under  one  general  and  undis- 
tinguishing  name,  and  has  made  each  of  these,  even  the 
purest  and  most  incorruptible,  responsible  for  the  errors  and 
falsities  of  all  the  rest.  This  is  quite  as  egregious  an  in- 
justice as  if  in  dealing  with  two  men  I  should  lay  upon  the 
one,  who  was  never  known  to  swerve  in  the  least  from 
integrity  and  truth,  the  burden  of  all  that  discredit  which 
the  other  had  incurred  by  frauds  and  falsehoods  innumer- 
able. This  is  precisely  the  error  of  Mr.  Hume.  By  his 
method  of  reckoning  there  can  be  no  distributive  justice, 
just  because  there  is  no  distribution.  We  readily  allow 
that  testimony  has  often  deceived  us  ;  but  the  question 
proper  to  the  matter  on  hand  is.  Has  ever  such  testimony 
deceived  us,  possessed  of  such  specific  characters,  and  given 
in  such  specific  circumstances,  that  its  falsehood  were  as 
great  a  miracle  in  the  moral,  as  the  most  stupendous  prodigy 
ever  recorded  to  have  taken  place  in  the  material  world  ? 

1,1.  It  is  thus  that  by  a  single  testimony  of  such  a  kind  as 
that  its  falsehood  would  be  as  miraculous  as  the  event  tes- 
tified, we  might  at  least  countervail  the  inherent  improba- 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  165 

bility  which  lies  in  a  miracle.  In  balancing  the  two  there 
might  be  an  equilibrium  between  the  credibility  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  incredibility  on  the  other.  Mr.  Hume's  sen- 
tence of  rejection  on  a  miracle  might  thus  be  set  aside. 
But  more  is  wanted  ere  we  can  pass  upon  it  a  sentence  of 
affirmation.  It  is  not  enough  that  it  should  be  brought 
midway  between  belief  and  unbelief;  or  that  the  improba- 
bility which  attaches  to  a  miraculous  event,  and  that  too  on 
the  ground  of  its  being  miraculous,  should  be  merely  neu- 
tralized. It  should  be  overbalanced,  and  this  is  most 
effectually  done  by  a  combination  of  testimonies. 

12.  The  power  of  evidence  which  lies  in  such  a  combina- 
tion is  well  known  to  every  mathematician  acquainted  with 
the  doctrine  of  probabilities.  If  the  credibility  of  each 
separate  and  independent  testimony  w^ere  represented  by  a 
number — then  the  credibility  afforded  by  their  concurrence 
is  equal  to  the  product  of  them  all.  Let  the  improbability 
of  a  miracle  be  so  great  as  that  of  a  million  to  one,  but  let 
the  credibility  of  the  testimony  which  vouches  for  its  truth 
be  also  a  million  to  one — then  the  proof  is,  at  least,  a  full 
equivalent  for  the  disproof;  and  the  mind,  with  this  view 
of  a  miracle  and  its  accompanying  evidence,  v^ill  be  in  a 
state  of  simple  neutrality  regarding  it.  Let  there  now  be 
superadded  another  testimony  distinct  from  the  former,  and 
of  the  same  high  quality,  or  a  million  to  one — this  million 
will  now  represent  the  amount  of  credit  due  to  the  miracle ; 
and  should  we  still  imagine  another  and  another,  we  should 
soon  arrive  by  a  most  rapid  multiplying  process  at  many 
million-fold  millions  by  which  to  estimate  the  value  of  the 
historical  proof  which  might  be  accumulated  in  favor  of  a 
miraculous  story.  It  is  worthy  of  observation,  that  if  a 
given  number  of  common  testimonies  should  suffice  to  up- 
hold our  belief  in  the  events  of  common  history — then  let 
there  be  the  same  number  of  proportional  and  so  of  first-rate 
testimonies  for  the  events  of  a  miraculous  history ;  and 
while  one  of  these  neutralizes  the  improbability  of  the  mir- 
acle, we  have  the  high  product  of  the  high  numbers  which 
represent  the  others  to  establish  affirmatively  its  truth — and 


166  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

that  by  a  gigantic  superiority  over  all  the  evidence  which 
can  be  alleged  for  the  ordinary  and  secular  narratives  of 
the  ages  that  are  past.  It  is  thus  that  the  superlative  tes- 
timonies of  saints  and  martyrs  in  the  first  century  of  our 
faith,  might  not  only  cancel  the  v^hole  improbability  which 
attaches  to  a  miracle,  but  greatly  overpass  it — and  so  as 
positively  to  accredit  the  evangelical  story,  with  a  weight 
and  a  splendor  of  evidence  that  exceed  in  a  degree  that  is 
incalculable  all  other  history.  Such  is  the  legitimate  out- 
going of  that  argument  by  which  the  sophistry  of  Hume 
might  not  only  be  disposed  of,  but  there  be  substituted  in 
its  place  the  demonstration  of  a  far  higher  probability  for 
the  miracles  of  the  gospel,  than  for  any  other  informations 
which  have  been  handed  down  to  us  in  the  documents  of 
past  ages.  And  this  is  not  the  only  instance  in  which  the 
objections  of  infidelity  have  been  followed  up  by  a  similar 
result — not  only  met  but  overmatched;  so  that  on  the 
arena  to  which  they  have  been  called,  the  defenders  of 
Christianity  have  done  more  than  repel  the  assault  of  adver- 
saries— they  have  converted  what  before  was  held  to  be  a 
place  of  vulnerable  exposure  into  a  place  of  strength  and 
security,  and  raised  within  its  limits  additional  strongholds 
and  muniments  of  the  faith — wresting  from  the  hand  of 
enemies  the  weapons  of  their  warfare,  and  converting  them 
into  the  engines  of  their  utter  defeat  and  overthrow. 

13.  Such  is  a  very  general  outline  of  the  argument  that 
we  employ  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Hume.  Its  whole  pecu- 
liarity, and  we  may  add  its  whole  power,  if  viewed  only  as 
a  reply  to  him,  lies  in  our  exposure  of  the  oversight,  if  not 
of  the  artifice,  by  which  he  has  burdened  all  testimony  in 
the  gross,  with  the  discredit  that  might  be  laid  on  its  several 
species,  instead  of  making  each  species  responsible  only  for 
the  errors  or  falsities  of  its  own.  And  there  is  a  species 
absolutely  free  of  all  falsities  and  errors — unimpeachable 
and  without  a  flaw,  and  of  which  it  were  as  hard  to  believe 
that  it  could  deceive  us,  as  to  believe  in  the  reality  of  any 
miracle.  By  one  such  testimony  the  whole  unlikelihood  of 
the  miracle  is  done  away ;  and  by  two  or  more  the  truth 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  167 

of  it  is  established.  The  essence  of  our  refutation  Hes  in 
the  first  of  these  conclusions.  In  the  second,  or  the  argu- 
ment grounded  on  combination,  there  can  be  no  claim  to 
novelty,  familiar  as  it  must  have  been  to  all  vv^ho  ever  made 
the  evidence  of  testimony  a  subject  of  numerical  computa- 
tion. Still  the  previous  reasoning  leads  to  a  prodigious 
enhancement  of  the  final  result — for  after  having  by  one 
testimony  of  the  highest  order  neutralized  all  the  improba- 
bility which  Mr.  Hume  ascribes  to  a  miracle,  we  can  by 
the  remaining  testimonies  of  like  quality  and  power  build 
up  an  evidence  for  miracles  far  surpassing  all  that  we  pos- 
sess for  the  events  of  common  history.  It  is  well  that  men 
of  science  may,  even  by  dint  of  their  own  mathematics,  be 
shut  up  unto  the  faith.  Mr.  Hume  asserts  for  miracles  such 
an  insusceptibility  of  proof  from  testimony,  as  must  forever 
place  them  the  lowest  of  all  events  in  the  scale  of  credibil- 
ity; and  it  is  well  therefore  to  present  the  demonstration, 
if  not  that  they  have  been  actually  proved,  at  least  that  they 
are  susceptible  of  being  so  proved  as  to  make  them  the 
highest  in  the  scale.* 

14.  The  actual  evidence  for  the  miracles  of  the  gospel 
actually  told  on  the  convictions  of  men,  long  before  either 
this  skeptical  objection  of  Mr.  Hume,  or  the  argument  by 
which  it  has  been  met,  was  ever  heard  of.  This  evidence 
did  its  own  work  directly  and  immediately  on  thousands  of 
minds,  alike  unconscious  of  the  difficulty  which  this  subtle 
metaphysician  placed  in  its  way,  or  of  the  explanation  by 
which  the  difficulty  is  solved — undisturbed  therefore  by  the 
one,  and  having  no  demand,  because  without  the  sense  or 
feeling  of  any  practical  necessity  for  the  other.  The  testi- 
mony of  the  first  witnesses  for  the  resurrection  of  Christ — ■ 
that  most  stupendous  of  all  miracles — carried  the  belief  of 
thousands ;  and  this  belief  descended  from  age  to  age,  just 
as  all  other  historical  faith  is  transmitted  downward  by 

*  Our  refutation  of  Hume's  ar^ment  respecting  testimony,  places  the  ar- 
gument for  miracles  on  an  expenmental  basis,  and  so  makes  it  peculiarly  fit 
for  being  presented  to  mathematicians  and  the  cultivators  of  the  exact  sci- 
ences.— ^John  X.  25,  37 ;  xv.  24. 


168  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

written  narratives  bearing  in  themselves  a  credible  aspect, 
and  supported  by  an  adequate  consent  on  the  part  both  of 
contemporaneous  and  successive  authors.  It  w^as  not  till 
after  the  lapse  of  more  than  seventeen  hundred  years  from 
the  event  in  question,  that  the  idea  wsls  started  of  an  essen- 
tial shortness  and  powerlessness  in  human  testimony,  to 
establish  the  truth  of  any  miracle.  We  might  well  imagine 
that  after  this  idea  had  been  presented  to  the  mind  of  an 
inquirer,  and  before  the  satisfactory  refutation  of  it  had  been 
devised  and  made  known  to  him,  he  might  have  felt  it 
irrational  to  repose,  faith  in  any  miracles  supported  by  any 
amount  of  human  testimony ;  but  that  now,  when  both  the 
idea  and  its  refutation  have  been  placed  before  him,  it  was 
perfectly  right  and  rational  to  believe  in  them.  But  though 
we  might  thus  characterize  the  belief  of  him  who  has  made 
himself  master  both  of  the  infidel  sophistry  and  its  exposure 
how  shall  we  characterize  the  belief  of  those  who  through- 
out all  the  intermediate  generations,  from  the  days  of  the 
apostles  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  were  alike  igno- 
rant of  both  ?  We  might  pronounce  the  faith  of  him  to  be 
rational  who  has  cleared  his  way  through  the  logical  per- 
plexity which  Hume  contrived  to  throw  around  the  subject. 
But  what  shall  we  say  of  those  Christians  who  lived  before 
that  perplexity  was  stirred,  or  who  have  Uved  since,  but 
never  heard  of  it — that  their  faith  is  alike  rational  ?  It  is 
by  a  certain  intellectual  process  that,  when  presented  with 
the  miracles  of  the  gospel  and  those  testimonies  which  form 
their  credentials,  they  are  conducted  to  a  belief  in  their 
reality.  Now  the  question  is,  Was  this  process  a  sound  one ; 
or  would  you  say,  that  because  we  who  are  cognizant,  first, 
of  Mr.  Hume's  puzzle,  and  secondly,  of  its  solution,  that 
because  ours  may  therefore  be  a  warrantable  and  legitimate 
conviction,  so  must  theirs,  although  they  were  alike  uncon- 
scious of  both? 

15.  Certain  it  is,  that  whether  their  conviction  was 
sound  or  not,  it  was  abundantly  strong ;  and  it  is  indeed 
upon,  the  strength  and  universality  of  such  a  conviction,  in 
certain  given  circumstances,  that  Dr.  Paley  founds  the  only 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  16f) 

reply  which  he  attempts  making  to  Mr.  Hume's  argument. 
He  supposes  twelve  men  to  agree  in  their  account  of  a 
miracle,  and  that  the  testimony  of  each  is  accredited  by 
all  the  circumstances  which  can  make  us  feel  that  its  false- 
hood were  impossible ;  that  each  perseveres  in  the  same 
statement  in  the  face  of  threats  and  tortures,  and  finally  of 
death ;  and  that  thus  there  is  not  only  a  single  first-rate 
proof,  on  which  by  itself  we  should  place  as  much  reliance 
as  we  would  on  the  constancy  of  nature,  but  a  combina- 
tion of  these.  Dr.  Paley  enters  into  no  calculation,  first, 
on  the  power  of  but  one  such  testimony  to  neutralize,  and 
then  on  the  power  of  them  all  put  together,  infinitely  to 
overpass  the  alleged  improbability  of  a  miracle.  Instead 
of  telling  us  why  all  men  should  believe  a  miracle  thus 
attested,  he  is  satisfied  with  the  fact  that  all  men  would 
believe  it— "I  undertake  to  say  that  there  exists  not  a 
skeptic  in  the  world  who  would  not  believe  them,  or  who 
would  defend  such  incredulity."* 

16.  Now  this,  though  a  safe,  is  but  an  empirical,  aad  not 
a  scientific  demonstration.  His  conclusion  is  a  right  one, 
because  what  all  men  believe,  not  in  virtue  of  those  local 
or  accidental  influences  which  are  variable,  but  in  obe- 

*  "  But  the  short  consideration  which,  independently  of  every  other,  con- 
vinces me  that  there  is  no  solid  foundation  in  Mr.  Hume's  conclusion,  is  the 
following : — WTien  a  theorem  is  proposed  to  a  mathematician,  the  first  thing 
he  does  with  it  is  to  try  it  upon  a  simple  case,  and  if  it  produce  a  false  re- 
sult, he  is  sure  that  there  must  be  some  mistake  in  the  demonstration.  Now, 
to  proceed  in  this  way  Avith  what  may  be  called  Mr.  Hume's  theorem :  if 
twelve  men,  whose  probity  and  good  sense  I  had  long  known,  should  seri- 
ously and  circumstantially  relate  to  me  an  account  of  a  miracle  wrought  be- 
fore their  eyes,  and  in  which  it  was  impossible  that  they  should  be  deceived ; 
if  the  governor  of  the  country,  hearing  a  rumor  of  this  account,  should  call 
these  men  into  his  presence,  and  offer  them  a  short  proposal,  either  to  con- 
fess the  imposture,  or  submit  to  be  tied  up  to  a  gibbet ;  if  they  should  refuse 
with  one  voice  to  acknowledge  that  there  existed  any  falsehood  or  imposture 
in  the  case  ;  if  this  threat  were  communicated  to  them  separately,  yet  with 
no  different  effect;  if  it  was  at  last  executed;  if  I  myself  saw  them,  one  after 
another,  consenting  to  be  racked,  burnt,  or  strangled,  rather  than  give  up  the 
truth  of  their  account ; — still,  if  Mr.  Hume's  rule  be  my  guide,  I  am  not  to 
believe  them.  Now  I  undertake  to  say,  that  there  exists  not  a  skeptic  io 
the  world  who  would  not  believe  them,  or  who  would  defend  such  incre- 
dulity." 

voL=  vn. — H 


170  INSTITUTES  OF  TMEOLOGY. 

dience  to  those  original  tendencies  of  the  mind  which  are 
implanted  there  by  the  hand  of  God,  and  are  therefore 
universal  as  humanity  itself, — what  all  men  thus  believe  is 
true,  because  God  Himself  is  true,  and  never  would  de- 
ceive His  rational  offspring  by  giving  them  an  intellectual 
constitution,  the  incipient  or  first  principles  of  which  are 
at  variance  with  the  objective  realities  of  the  world  in 
which  they  are  placed,  or  the  system  of  external  nature  by 
which  they  are  surrounded.  Now,  the  confident  anticipa- 
tion of  a  like  result  in  like  circumstances,  or  what  is  but 
the  converse  of  this,  the  as  confident  inference  of  the  same 
antecedents  for  the  same  consequents,  is  precisely  one  of 
these  instincts,  and  which  meets  with  a  glorious  verifica- 
tion in  the  actual  constancy  of  nature,  or  in  what  has  been 
termed  the  invariableness  of  her  sequences,  giving  rise  to 
those  uniform  progressions  in  the  order  of  cause  and  effect, 
the  traversal  of  which,  by  a  special  intromission  of  the  Di- 
vine will  is  held  to  be  a  miracle.*  Now,  the  fact,  the 
ascertained  fact,  that  a  certain  number  of  testimonies,  pos- 
sessiri^  certain  obvious  characteristics,  and  delivered  in 
certsrin  given  circumstances,  would  constrain  every  man, 
even  the  most  obstinate  skeptic,  to  believe  in  the  truth  of  a 
miracle,  forms  a  safe  and  satisfactory  ground  on  which  to 
conclude  that  such  a  belief  is  in  harmony  with  the  first 
principles  of  the  human  understanding,  and  therefore  also 
in  harmony  with  those  objective  truths  to  which  our  sub- 
jective nature  has  been  adapted  by  Him  who  is  alike  the 
Artificer  of  the  mental  and  material  economy  of  the  uni- 
verse. This  is  one  way  by  which  to  arrive  at  the  proposi- 
tion, that  a  miracle  so  attested  as  that  all  men  must  believe 
it,  must  in  itself  be  true,  by  an  appeal  to  the  phenomena  of 
belief,  instead  of  an  appeal  to  the  principles  of  belief.  It 
is  deciding  the  matter  by  an  experiment  on  human  nature, 
and  very  much  of  the  same  sort  as  when  we  try  the  truth 
of  a  geometrical  theorem  by  the  construction  of  such  a 

*  Even  a  miracle  is  no  infringement  of  the  order  of  cause  and  effect,  for 
this  special  intromission  of  the  Divine  will  is  the  introduction  of  a  new  cause, 
making  the  causal  antecedent  different  from  what  it  was  before- 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  171 

figure  as  it  supposes,  and  then  the  measurement  of  those 
parts  whereof  it  announces  the  position  or  the  magnitude. 
We  might  thus,  on  the  mere  finding  of  a  pair  of  compasses, 
disprove  the  theorem,  and  so  dismiss  it  from  all  farther 
notice  ;  and  it  is  exactly  thus  that  Dr.  Paley  disposes  of 
the  sophistry  of  Mr.  Hume.  Nevertheless,  as  it  is  better 
to  prove  or  disprove  in  mathematics  by  reasoning  than  by 
the  application  of  the  scale  and  compasses— so  were  it  bet- 
ter if  the  general  demonstration  of  Hume  could  be  met,  if 
possible,  on  his  own  premises,  and  at  all  events  by  a  coun- 
ter-demonstration in  terms  of  equal  generality, 

17.  Now,  the  way  of  doing  this  is  to  describe  in  lan- 
guage the  mental  process  which  that  inquirer  performs  in 
reality,  who,  on  being  presented  with  the  report  of  a  mira- 
cle, and  looking  to  its  testimonies,  is  conducted  to  the  belief 
of  its  truth.  On  looking  to  the  miracle  alone,  he  is  visited, 
and  rightly  so,  with  a  sense  of  its  improbability — of  such 
improbability,  at  least,  as  will  require  more  than  ordinary 
evidence  to  surmount  it.  Then,  on  looking  to  the  testimony, 
he  never  thinks  of  judging  it  upon  any  other  merits  than  its 
own ;  nor  does  it  detract  by  ever  so  little  from  its  credit, 
that  a  testimony  of  altogether  different  characteristics  has 
often  turned  out  to  be  false.  It  is  thus  that  practically  and 
most  soundly  he  keeps  clear  of  the  sophism  of  Hume.  He 
considers  whether  such  testimony  as  he  is  now  attending 
to  ever  turned  out  to  be  false;  and  if  he  conceives  not, 
then  one  such  testimony  might  suffice  to  countervail  all  the 
improbability  which  he  felt  to  be  in  the  miracle  at  the  out- 
set of  his  investigation.  When  he  has  reached  this  point, 
he  will  lie  open  to  the  impression  of  a  most  rapidly  aug- 
menting and  accumulating  evidence  which  tells  affirma- 
tively Oil  the  side  of  the  miracle,  should  another  and  another 
testimony,  of  like  high  quality  with  the  first,  be  presented 
in  its  favor;  for  he  without  calculation  feels,  and  most  just- 
ly, what  the  mathematician  only  can  set  before  us  in  figures, 
the  weight  of  evidence  which  lies  in  the  combination  of 
testimonies.  And  thus  it  is  that,  by  dint  of  sheer  common 
sense,  he  comes,  and  most  legitimately  comes,  to  the  right 


172  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

canclusion,  which  yet  he  cannot  vindicate,  but  which  the 
logician  and  the  analyst  alone  can  do  on  the  principles  of 
their  respective  sciences.  It  is  not  for  him,  but  for  them 
to  dispose  of  such  sophisms  as  those  of  Mr.  Hume  ;  but 
while  they  are  thus  engaged,  he,  all  unconscious  either  of 
their  argument  or  of  the  necessity  which  called  for  it,  by 
simply  yielding  a  just  obedience  to  the  instinctive  tendencies 
of  his  own  understanding,  lands  in  such  an  apprehension  of 
the  truth  as  is  in  surprising  coincidence  with,  and  so  is  amply 
verified  by,  the  computations  of  scientific  men.  He  himself 
is  wholly  incapable  of  these  computations,  nor  is  it  neces- 
sary for  his  own  guidance  that  he  should  be  capable — the 
guidance  of  a  rightly  constituted  intellectual  nature,  by 
which  he,  and  thousands  more  in  all  ages,  have  been  con- 
ducted in  the  strength  of  an  adequate  testimony  to  a  faith 
in  miracles — all  of  them  getting  soundly  and  well  through 
the  direct  business  of  the  understanding ;  let  others  whose 
office  it  is  to  take  cognizance  of  its  processes,  and  to  de- 
scribe them,  either  continue  to  misunderstand  each  other, 
or  to  settle  their  controversies  as  they  may. 

18.  On  this  subject  let  me  quote  the  following  most  im- 
portant and  just  testimony  of  Laplace,  taken  from  his  Essay 
on  Probabilities : — "  We  see  from  this  essay  that  the  theory 
of  probabilities  is  nothing  at  bottom  but  common  sense 
reduced  to  calculation.  It  makes  us  appreciate  with  ex- 
actness what  just  spirits  perceive  by  a  sort  of  instinct, 
without  being  able  often  to  render  an  account  of  it."  In 
other  words,  this  direct  mental  process,  we  mean  the  pro- 
cess of  common  sense,  by  which  common  men  are  rightly 
led,  and  to  a  safe  and  sound  conclusion^ — it  is  for  them  to 
execute,  but  for  others  to  give  an  account  of  This  ac- 
count might  be  given  well  or  ill ;  for  it  is  truly  a  possible 
thing  that  what  has  been  rightly  executed  by  the  one 
party,  might  be  very  erroneously  stated  or  represented  by 
the  other  party — ^just  as  a  thing  might  be  well  done,  yet  ill 
described.  Just  spirits  will  often  perceive,  and  rightly,  by 
a  sort  of  instinct,  while  others  might  fail  in  giving  the  right 
account  of  their  perception.     It  is  thus  that  peasants  may 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  173 

be  in  the  right  while  philosophers  are  in  the  wrong — the 
one  right  in  the  direct  business  of  the  understanding,  the 
others  wrong  in  the  account  which  they  give  of  that  busi- 
ness. There  is  a  most  important  difference  here  between 
the  direct  and  the  reflex,  and  which  runs  throughout  the 
whole  of  mental  philosophy.  It  is  exemplified  in  the  men- 
tal processes  of  childhood,  which  lead  by  a  right  pathway 
to  a  valid  result — yet  to  trace  and  describe  that  pathway 
were  the  most  difficult  of  all  achievements — so  that  what 
an  infant  does  easily  and  well,  might  require  for  the  ade- 
quate description  of  it  all  the  nomenclature  and  analysis 
of  the  most  profound  philosophy.  And  thus  too,  by  na- 
ture's education  of  the  senses,  the  most  unlettered  clown 
might  judge  as  accurately  of  magnitudes  and  distances  by 
the  eye,  as  the  most  accomplished  savant — though  no  re- 
flex cognizance  was  taken  of  the  judging  process  till  the 
days  of  Bishop  Berkeley,  who  has  so  beautifully  and  con- 
vincingly expounded  it  in  his  theory  of  vision.  And  in  like 
manner,  all  men  were  capable  of  estimating  aright  the  evi- 
dence of  the  testimony  for  a  miracle,  and  when  sufficient,  of 
soundly  believing  it— long  before  Hume  tried  to  disturb  the 
conclusion  by  a  wrong,  to  be  at  length  displaced  by  a  right 
theory  of  mental  vision.  The  common  sense  of  men  did 
its  own  work,  and  rightly  too,  for  ages,  long  before  its  de- 
cisions were  ratified  by  the  calculations  of  philosophers. 
It  did  so  by  the  evidence  for  miracles  ;  and  this  might 
prepare  us  for  admitting  the  capabilities  of  the  popular 
mind  for  other  and  various  evidence,  whether  explored  or 
not  by  scientific  men,  or  yet  made  the  subject  of  their 
thorough  and  philosophic  investigation.  The  direct  pro- 
cesses of  the  mind  take  precedency  of  the  reflex,  just  as 
the  instances  of  good  reasoning  took  precedency  of  its 
rules — the  rules,  in  fact,  deriving  all  their  authority  and 
illustration  from  the  instances;  and  thus  men  reasoned 
rightly  and  well,  long  before  the  science  of  logic  arose ; 
and  in  the  exercise  of  its  supervision  on  the  subject  of  evi- 
dence, reviewed  its  varieties  and  assigned  its  laws.  There 
is  no  reason  to  think  that  the  supervision  is  yet  completed ; 


174  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY.       • 

or  that  all  those  workings  of  the  human  spirit,  or  all  the 
possible  objects  of  human  thought,  by  which  it  finds  its 
way  to  sound  and  legitimate  convictions,  have  yet  passed 
under  the  review  of  those  whose  professional  theme  is  the 
philosophy  of  evidence,  or  the  philosophy  of  the  human 
understanding.  Meanwhile,  these  workings  are  in  busy 
operation,  and  on  all  various  fields  of  inquiry,  so  that  we 
need  not  wonder,  if  on  the  subject  of  Christianity  there 
may,  in  the  yet  unsounded  depths  of  human  intelligence 
and  human  consciousness,  be  mental  processes  in  motion, 
which  lead  men,  and  that  most  warrantably,  to  a  belief  in 
its  truth — though  no  expounder  of  the  Christian  evidences 
may  yet  have  noticed  the  processes,  or  at  least  have  either 
fully  traced  or  distinctly  explained  them  to  the  world.  It 
is  thus  that  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  may  be  doing  its 
work,  and  make  most  satisfying  demonstration  of  itself  to 
the  minds  of  thousands — though  on  grounds  which  have 
never  yet  been  stated  by  defenders  of  the  gospel,  perhaps 
never  yet  adverted  to  either  by  the  friends  or  enemies  of 
the  faith.* 

*  The  direct  are  anterior  to  the  i-eflex  processes  of  the  understanding ; 
and  mankind  at  large  may  rightly  accomplish  the  former,  whether  philoso- 
phers have  or  have  not  rightly  accomplished  the  latter ;  and  so  the  capabilities 
of  the  popular  mind  for  the  apprehension  of  truth  may  far  outrun  the  capacities 
of  men  of  science  for  an  adequate  exposition  of  it.  As  an  illustration  of  the 
multiple  evidence  which  lies  in  the  concurrent  testimony  of  two  senses,  see 
John  XX.  27-29. 


CHAPTER   II. 

ON  THE  GENERAL  EVIDENCE  OF  HISTORY. 

1.  It  is  palpable  of  certain  historical  events,  many  of 
them  conceived  to  be  of  great  antiquity,  that  they  have  ob- 
tained a  place  in  the  current  belief  of  the  v^^orld,  their  right 
to  which  no  one  thinks  of  questioning.  They  have,  some- 
how or  other,  come  into  undisturbed  possession  of  the  gen- 
eral faith  of  mankind.  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the 
invasion  of  Britain  by  Julius  Caesar,  the  conquests  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  the  establishment  of  the  Norman  dynasty 
in  England,  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus,  the 
Reformation  by  Luther,  the  martyrdom  of  Charles  I.  and 
Louis  XVI. — these  we  have  selected  and  singled  out  at 
random,  among  the  many  thousand  events  which  have 
taken  place  in  various  ages,  and  in  all  various  places  of  the 
globe ;  and  which  have  acquired  a  firm  settlement  as  un- 
doubted historical  truths  in  the  minds  of  all  men.  They 
are  the  objects  of  a  universal  acquiescence ;  and  for  aught 
which  appears  they  have  kept  their  ground  as  such,  from 
the  time  in  which  they  are  said  to  have  happened,  to  the 
present  hour. 

2.  There  must  be  some  assignable  causes  for  this  impli- 
cit and  unexcepted  confidence,  and  it  promises  to  facilitate 
our  inquiry  into  the  nature  and  efficacy  of  these,  that,  in 
contrast  with  such  events  as  those  which  have  been  now 
enumerated,  there  are  others  which  are  alleged  to  have  taken 
place,  but  which  are  either  repudiated  as  absolutely  false, 
or  suspected  as  at  best  but  doubtful  and  uncertain.  Such 
are  the  prodigies  of  Livy,  and  the  legends  of  Monkery  in 
the  Middle  Ages ;  and  various  specific  impostures,  which 
if  they  do  not  crowd  upon  our  recollection  so  fast  as  the 
events  of  an  opposite  description,  it  is  because  that,  after 
all,  the  truths  of  history  so  greatly  outnumber  its  falsehoods 
— just  as  in  conversation,  notwithstanding  all    the  deceit 


176  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

which  abounds  in  the  world,  there  are  more  than  a  hun- 
dred truths  told  for  every  lie.  There  is  enough,  however, 
both  of  truth  and  falsehood  in  the  world  to  present  us  with 
the  characteristics  of  each,  and  the  contrast  between  them 
must  give  us  all  the  greater  advantage,  when  investigating 
the  causes  of  the  different  reception  which  they  have  met 
with,  and  may  thus  enable  us  to  ascertain  when  it  is  that 
a  history  should  be  rejected  as  spurious ;  and  what,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  the  marks  and  signatures  of  that  history 
which  all  men  regard  as  authentic  and  unquestionable. 

3.  It  will  help  us  to  a  more  distinct  view  of  the  historical 
evidence  if  considering  it  as  partly  internal  and  partly  ex- 
ternal, we  bestow  a  separate  attention  on  each  of  these,  as 
being  the  two  great  divisions  of  the  whole  subject. 

4.  The  internal  historical  evidence  for  any  written  docu- 
ment which  has  been  handed  down  to  us  from  past  ages, 
lies  in  those  marks  of  credibility  which  are  to  be  found 
within  the  limits  of  the  document  itself  That  there  is  a 
rea-1  credibility  of  this  sort  will  be  obvious,  if  we  attend  to 
what  that  is  which  inspires  our  confidence  in  the  testimony 
even  of  one  living  witness,  and  when  none  of  his  fellows 

'have  yet  stood  forth  to  vouch  for  or  to  confirm  it.  There 
are  such  things  as  a  credible  aspect,  a  certain  tone  and 
bearing  of  honesty,  the  natural  signs  of  truth,  which  may 
no  doubt  be  counterfeited,  but  which  still  prove  that  truth 
as  well  as  falsehood  wears  a  characteristic  appearance  of 
its  own.  All  these  are  so  many  tokens  of  veracity  which 
might  be  so  accumulated  on  the  person  and  manner  of  even 
a  single  witness,  as  strongly  to  prepossess  us  in  his  favor. 
They  form  what  may  be  called  the  likelihoods  of  truth, 
w^hich,  according  as  presented  to  us  in  less  or  in  greater 
degree,  might  be  termed  presumptions,  probabilities,  nay, 
even  proofs  by  which  to  warrant  our  reliance  on  the  testi- 
mony of  one  individual,  though  hitherto  a  stranger  to  us  ; 
and  this  anterior  to  all  examination  of  others,  or  while  yet 
we  had  to  do  with  but  him  alone.  This  reliance  on  the 
informations  of  a  single  witness  is  a  thing  constantly  pro- 
ceeded on  in  the  matters  of  daily  and  familiar  converse 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY  177 

between  man  and  man  ;  and  what  is  of  such  perpetual  in- 
fluence and  operation  in  the  business  of  life,  should  be  of 
avail  in  the  business  of  scholarship  also.  For  what  is 
true  of  oral  is  also  true  of  written  testimony,  which  though 
dead  yet  speaketh.  A  book  may  announce  its  own  hon- 
esty, and  wear  the  visible  appearance  of  it  as  well  as  a 
man.  It  may  engage,  and  that  most  legitimately,  the  con- 
fidence of  its  reader,  and  that  just  from  the  moral  charac- 
teristics which  are  obviously  graven  upon  its  pages;  such 
characteristics,  we  mean,  as  are  capable  of  being  transfer- 
red from  spoken  to  written  language.  It  is  true  that  we 
have  not  the  living  countenance  or  impressive  accents  of  the 
living  voice  to  indicate  the  sincerity  which  is  within;  but 
we  have  other  indices  fully  as  difficult  for  an  author  to 
counterfeit  as  these,  and  which  may  be  so  multiplied  and 
sustained  throughout  as  to  speak  powerfully  on  his  behalf, 
and  to  make  all  men  feel  the  trustworthiness  of  the  nar- 
rative which  he  has  placed  before  them.  Though  we  have 
neither  the  tone  nor  the  physiognomy  of  sentiment,  we  may 
have  the  natural,  the  unequivocal  expression  of  pure,  and 
honorable,  and  virtuous  sentiment  notwithstanding  ;  and  be- 
sides all  this,  there  may  be  such  an  air  of  truth  and  direct- 
ness and  perfect  simplicity  throughout  the  whole  composi- 
tion— such  entire  freedom  from  even  the  semblance  of  art 
or  affectation — such  marks  and  manifestations  of  downright 
honesty,  as  make  it  quite  transparent  to  every  man  that 
there  is  the  utmost  singleness  of  mind  and  purpose  in  the 
writer ;  and  so  as  that  the  writing  which  has  issued  from 
his  hands,  to  make  use  of  a  familiar  phrase,  speaks  for 
itself,  or  carries  its  own  recommendation  stamped  and  au- 
thenticated upon  its  forehead.  It  is  thus  that  even  but  one 
historian,  apart  from  the  corroborative  testimony  of  all  his 
fellows,  might,  on  the  strength  of  those  credentials  alone, 
which  stand  forth  on  his  own  pages,  carry  the  assent  ^nd 
confidence  of  his  readers  along  with  him.  When  once  they 
are  persuaded  of  his  good  faith  by  these  various  symptoms 
of  it,  nothing  more  is  wanting  than  that  they  shall  be  as 
well  satisfied  of  his  freedom  from  error  as  of  his  freedom 


178  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

from  deceit  or  artifice ;  and  so  let  such  a  one  but  tell  what 
he  says  he  himself  saw,  let  him  but  announce  that  he  was 
the  eye-witness  of  his  own  story;  and  though  in  his  own 
single  person  a  solitary  voice,  yet  will  he  speak  as  one 
having  authority. 

5.  And  there  is  one  test  of  credibility  still  more  definite 
than  any  we  have  now  specified,  by  which  the  veracity 
even  of  a  single  witness  might  be  determined — and  that  is, 
consistency  with  himself  Certain  it  is,  that  the  contra- 
diction of  one  part  to  another  might  suffice  to  vitiate  and 
set  aside  his  testimony;  and  it  is  precisely  thus  that  a  wit- 
ness on  a  trial  can  often,  by  a  skillful  cross-examination,  be 
made  to  break  down.  On  the  other  hand,  by  a  thorough 
and  sustained  agreement  with  himself,  he  may  not  only 
stand  altogether  free  of  this  exception,  but  gain  by  it  a 
strong  affirmative  credit  for  the  evidence  which  he  deliv- 
ers. A  lawyer  knows  this  well ;  and  what  holds  true  in 
the  examination  of  a  man,  holds  as  true  in  the  examination 
of  a  document,  which  may  either  be  so  convicted  of  dis- 
crepancy between  its  various  assertions,  as  to  bear  on  the 
face  of  it  its  own  condemnation,  or  so  stand  its  ground 
against  the  closest  and  most  searching  inquisition  of  all  its 
statements,  whether  direct  or  incidental,  as  by  its  manifested 
harmony,  reaching  even  to  its  faintest  allusions  and  minut- 
est clauses,  to  give  an  impression  of  the  perfect  integrity 
wherewith  it  had  been  framed.  The  proof  of  this  is 
greatly  enhanced  by  the  particularity  of  a  narrative,  or  by 
the  number  of  circumstances  in  which  it  deals — each  of 
these  presenting  a  fresh  opportunity,  either  for  the  exposure 
of  its  falsehood,  or  failing  this,  for  the  confirmation  of  its 
truth.  It  is  obvious  that,  in  proportion  as  these  are  mul- 
tiplied, the  task  of  harmonizing  and  arranging  them  into  a 
feasible  story — or,  in  other  words,  the  task  of  fabrication 
and  imposture — becomes  all  the  more  difficult.  Hence,  for 
a  narrative  to  be  circumstantial,  is  always  regarded  as  a 
good  presumption  in  favor  of  its  truth;  and  more  espe- 
cially, if  in  the  introduction  of  the  circumstances  there  is 
nothing  fetched,  or  strained,  or  unnatural ;  but,  on  the  con- 


EVIDENCES  OF   CHRISTIANITY.  179 

trary,  there  appears  to  be  an  entire  absence  of  all  art  on 
the  part  of  the  writer,  or  of  any  other  effort  than  that  of 
clearly  and  fully  conveying  the  facts  which  are  related  by 
him,  just  as  he  himself  either  saw  or  understands  them. — 
This,  then,  is  one  of  the  strongest  of  our  internal  historical 
evidences. 

6.  But  if  truth  can  be  thus  elicited  by  the  cross-question- 
ing of  one  witness,  it  greatly  adds  to  our  materials  and  our 
data  for  such  an  examination  when  we  institute  the  same 
process  on  several  witnesses — comparing  or  confronting 
their  testimonies  with  each  other.  There  may  lie  a  great 
strength  of  evidence  in  the  coincidences  which  obtain  be- 
tween different  writings  of  the  same  author,  and  still  more 
between  different  writers — particularly  when,  to  fix  and 
ascertain  these,  we  have  to  track  a  way  through  manifold 
indirect  and  incidental  allusions  ;  or  to  bring  passages  to- 
gether which,  when  seen  at  one  view,  both  give  and  reflect 
a  deal  of  mutual  light  and  confirmation  ;  or  to  evolve  a 
nvimber  of  hidden  harmonies  which,  so  far  from  lying  pa- 
tent on  the  surface  of  the  records,  escaped  altogether  the 
observation  of  the  world,  till  some  skillful  hand,  that  knew 
how  to  probe  and  scrutinize  them,  brought  them  up  to  the 
light  of  day,  and  so  made  it  manifest,  that,  as  they  could 
not  have  been  devised  for  the  purposes  of  imposition,  they 
can  be  accounted  for  in  no  other  way  than  that  the  writers 
in  question  agreed  so  well  because  they  held  converse  with 
realities;  and  that  their  consistency,  instead  of  a  factitious 
product,  the  result  of  artifice  or  conspiracy  among  them- 
selves, was  based  on  the  common  groundwork  of  that  truth 
and  nature  from  which  ail  of  them  drew.  No  impostor,  if 
he  meant  to  deceive  by  the  semblarfce  of  consistency,  either 
with  himself  or  others,  would  have  buried  that  semblance 
so  far  under  the  face  of  his  composition,  that  ere  it  became 
visible  it  had  to  be  laboriously  extracted  from  the  secrecy 
of  those  depths  in  which  it  lay  for  ages.  It  is  like  the  sum- 
moning of  evidence  from  the  grave,  as  if  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  so  many  witnesses  for  the  truth  ;  and  to  this  process, 
alike  wonderful  in  its  execution  and   in  its  results,  do  we 


180  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

owe  some  of  the  proudest  and  most  conclusive  of  our  his- 
torical demonstrations. 

7.  One  is  at  a  loss  how  to  designate  this  last  species  of 
proof,  or  say  to  which  of  the  two  departments  it  should 
be  referred^whether  to  the  internal  or  the  external  histor- 
ical evidence.  The  consistency  of  an  author  with  himself 
is  a  matter  purely  and  strictly  internal,  as  lying  wholly 
within  the  limits  of  his  book.  To  mark  his  consistency 
with  others,  we  must  compare  that  which  is  within  and  that 
which  is  without  the  four  corners  of  the  work  in  question. 
We  shall  be  disposed  to  call  it  internal,  when,  having  the 
previous  knowledge  of  other  authors,  we  first  notice  the 
harmony  on  which  the  evidence  is  founded  in  the  act  of 
reading  the  author  who  is  under  trial ;  and  we  shall  be  dis- 
posed to  call  it  external,  if,  with  our  previous  knowledge  of 
him,  the  harmony  be  perceived  by  us  for  the  first  time  in 
the  act  of  holding  converse  with  other  authors.  At  all 
events,  the  evidence  is  not  the  less  valuable,  though  we 
should  fail  to  classify  it  aright.  Its  own  inherent  worth  re- 
mains the  same,  whether  we  place  it  in  the  right  or  the 
wrong  category;  and  should  we  have  placed  it  wrong,  it 
is  not  the  only  instance  in  which  it  has  been  found  difficult, 
when  attempting  a  right  distribution  of  the  objects  of  human 
thought,  to  force  truth  and  nature  into  a  conformity  with 
our  artificial  divisions.* 

8.  When  one  author  names  another,  or  when  he  quotes 
him,,  and  especially  as  one  having  authority,  this  is  clearly 
and  unambiguously  an  external  evidence.  Even  if,  without 
naming  him,  he  should  only  depone  to  the  same  events  with 
his  predecessor — this  too  would  be  deemed  an  external 
evidence.     True,  it  is  an  evidence  grounded  on  the  coinci- 

*  Tiie  external  and  internal  historical  evidences  have  a  certain  middle  or 
debatable  ground  which  lies  between  them,  partaking  of  the  character  of 
both.  As  the  Bible  is  not  one  book  but  a  collection  of  books,  each  may- 
have  an  internal  evidence  springing  up  vdthin  itself,  and  an  external  evi- 
dence arising  from  comparison  with  the  others.  For  the  mighty  power 
which  lies  in  the  references  and  quotations  from  one  book  to  another,  see 
Exod.  xvii.  14  ;  Deut.  xvii.  18 ;  xxvii.  3  ;  Josh.  i.  8 ;  2  Kings  xxii.  13  ;  2 
Cbron.  xxx.  5 ;  xxxii.  2  ;  xxxv.  25 ;  Nehem.  viii.  1.5 ;  xiii.  1 ;  Jer  xxvi. 
18  :    Micah  i.  1. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  181 

dence  between  other  books  and  the  book  in  question.  But 
it  is  a  coincidence  which  Hes  broadly  and  patently  on  the 
face  of  the  record;  and  we  should  never  think  of  calling 
the  evidence  that  is  grounded  on  it  internal,  unless  the  co- 
incidence was  of  that  less  obvious  kind  which  could  not 
be  evolved  without  a  minute  and  critical  examination  of  the 
structure  and  inner  contents  of  the  volume  that  was  the 
subject  of  inquisition.  Tbe  evidence  obtained  in  this  last 
w^ay  is  certainly  of  a  very  striking  and  impressive  descrip- 
tion ;  but  it  is  the  external  evidence,  as  w^e  have  now  lim- 
ited and  defined  it,  which  is  commonly  regarded  as  forming 
the  main  strength  of  the  historical  argument. 

9.  Perhaps  the  best  way  to  give  some  notion  of  what  has 
been  termed  the  "process  of  historical  proof,"  is  to  consider 
first  how  it  is  that  we  make  sure  of  the  age  in  which  an 
author  writes.  It  is  common,  since  the  introduction  of 
printing,  to  mark  the  year  of  publication  on  the  title-page ; 
and  it  may  secure  our  confidence  in  other  notes  of  time  just 
to  think  how  seldom  if  ever  it  is  that  we  are  deceived  by 
such  an  indication.  We  might  with  all  safety  affirm  that 
not  once  in  a  thousand  times  are  we  imposed  upon  in  this 
way  by  a  false  date.  The  vast  majority  of  men  have  other 
objects  than  that  of  practicing  such  a  deceit  upon  posterity; 
and  in  the  execution  of  the  vast  majority  of  works  there  is 
no  conceivable  inducement  to  what  in  their  case  would  be 
an  act  of  mere  wantonness.  We  therefore,  in  almost  every 
instance,  place  our  implicit  reliance  on  such  information 
when  thus  given  respecting  the  age  of  any  book — even 
though  on  but  the  single  testimony  of  the  date  at  the  bottom 
of  its  title-page.  We  are  not  aware  if  the  antiquity  of  the 
first  manuscripts  or  autographs  was  often  marked  in  a 
similar  manner ;  but  there  are  other  indices  of  time  in  the 
body,  if  not  at  the  outset  of  these  compositions,  which  serve 
the  same  purpose,  and  which  we  have  the  very  same  reason 
for  thinking  have  been  placed  there  in  perfect  simplicity 
and  good  faith.  In  many  cases,  indeed,  the  indication 
amounts  not  merely  to  a  proof  but  to  a  certainty,  as  when 
one  ancient  author  refers  to  another ;  and  we  cannot  escape 


182  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

from  the  conclusion  as  to  which  of  them  is  the  more  ancient 
of  the  two.  It  is  thus,  too,  that  we  may  have  the  certainty 
of  one  author  having  written  after  a  particular  event,  and 
if  not  the  certainty,  often  the  high  probability  of  another 
author  having  written  before  it — as  if  he  should  so  speak  as 
if  Jerusalem  were  still  standing ;  or  if  professing  to  write 
of  the  affairs  of  the  Eastern  empire  in  his  own  time  there 
should  be  no  allusion  to  the  progress  of  the  Turkish  arms, 
or  the  capture  of  Constantinople.  Add  to  this  the  many 
numerical  intimations  in  which  history  abounds  of  the  length 
both  of  lives  and  of  the  periods  between  one  event  and 
another,  and  then  reflect  how  much  the  probability  of  one 
testimony  respecting  these  is  enhanced  by  the  accession 
and  concurrence  of  other  and  independent  testimonies  to 
the  same  effect,  and  we  shall  be  at  no  loss  to  understand 
how,  out  of  such  materials,  a  most  consistent  and  stable 
system  of  chronology  might  be  formed  ;  so  that  we  are  en- 
abled to  climb  upwardly  and  with  all  confidence  along  the 
pathway  of  time  from  one  stepping-stone  to  another,  and 
have  the  benefit  at  each  of  those  reflex  and  accumulated 
lights  which  open  up  to  us  the  history  of  past  ages.  This 
evidence  is  so  abundant  that  we  can  not  only  assign  the 
credit  which  is  due  to  historians  whose  works  have  long 
been  familiar  to  us,  but  we  can  even  test  the  fidelity  of  such 
documents  as  had  been  unnoticed  for  centuries,  and  which 
antiquarians  for  the  first  time  are  laying  their  hands  upon. 
Over  and  above  the  internal  characters  of  truth,  of  which 
we  have  already  spoken,  there  is  what  may  be  called  a 
truth  of  consistency  with  other  narratives,  and  with  all  that 
is  previously  known,  which  might  serve  to  authenticate 
even  the  new  informations  of  some  old  yet  recently  dis- 
covered work,  and  establish  its  rank  among  the  trustworthy 
vouchers  for  the  history  of  periods  that  have  long  gone  by. 
10.  We  are  now  in  a  fit  condition  for  estimating  the 
rightful  claims  of  any  ancient  author  to  the  confidence  of 
posterity,  or  of  his  readers  in  the  present  day.  It  would 
form  no  weak  guarantee  for  the  validity  of  his  claims,  if 
simply  now  a  universal  and  unquestioning  confidence  be 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  183 

reposed  in  him.  It  were  difficult  to  imagine  how  such  a 
feeling  should  have  arisen  capriciously  in  the  world  ;  and 
certainly  the  most  natural,  very  generally  the  true  solution, 
is,  that  he  has  been  the  object  of  such  a  confidence  from 
the  first ;  and  that  this  has  been  transmitted  downward  in 
unchecked  and  uncontrolled  tradition,  as  by  the  testimony  of 
one  generation  to  another,  to  the  times  in  which  we  live. 
This  is  an  evidence  within  the  reach  of  present  observation; 
and  there  is  another  of  the  same  kind  which  serves  greatly 
to  strengthen  and  confirm  it— we  mean  the  evidence  which 
lies  in  the  number  of  distinct  manuscripts — all  copies  of  the 
same  work,  palpably  of  various  ages  and  in  distant  parts  of 
the  world.  These  announce  to  us,  and  by  memorials  which 
our  hands  can  handle  and  our  eyes  can  look  upon,  the  value 
felt  in  bygone  ages  for  the  work  in  question,  anterior  to  the 
invention  of  printing  ;  and  often  reaching,  as  may  be  known 
from  certain  palpable  characters  of  far  higher  antiquity,  a 
great  way  beyond  this.  When  we  consider  by  how  labori- 
ous and  costly  a  process  of  transcription  the  copies  of  a 
book  were  multiplied  in  these  days,  we  may  be  very  sure 
that  if  a  number  of  such  duplicates  be  yet  extant,  and  that 
too  in  many  various  and  distant  countries  of  the  world,  it 
implies  both  a  high  value  and  wide-spread  demand  for  the 
work  in  question.  It  tells  us  that  the  general  confidence 
which  is  felt  now  was  also  felt  in  the  days  of  our  remote 
forefathers.  The  two  phenomena  are  in  perfect  keeping 
with  each  other,  both  within  the  ken  of  our  immediate  per- 
ception, and  yet  helping  to  authenticate  the  compositions 
and  narratives  of  long  past  ages. 

11. -But  the  most  distinct  and  definite  of  all  evidence  in 
favor  of  an  author  is,  when  he  is  referred  to  or  clearly 
quoted  or  expressly  named  by  other  authors,  and  in  such  a 
way  as  not  only  to  bespeak  their  own  confidence  in  his  in- 
formations, but  so  also  as  to  indicate  the  confidence  which 
his  readers  have  in  him — seeing  that  he  may  be  appealed 
to  for  the  very  purpose  of  strengthening  the  argument  or 
giving  credibility  to  the  statements  which  are  in  the  act  of 
being  addressed  to  them.     It  is  thus  that  each  well  known 


184  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

author  of  antiquity  is  followed  up  by  a  train,  as  it  were,  of 
documentary  evidence  in  his  favor — made  up  of  the  testi- 
monies of  subsequent  authors,  who  by  the  very  notice  they 
take  of  him,  demonstrate  that  they  are  his  successors,  or 
that  he  is  of  higher  seniority  than  themselves.  And  it 
should  be  recollected,  too,  that  each  of  these  has  his  own 
place  in  the  line  of  history,  and  distinct  and  independent 
vouchers  for  his  own  antiquity,  and  a  retinue  of  successors 
who  uphold  his  train ;  and  by  their  testimonies  in  turn, 
demonstrate  his  standing  and  authority  in  the  world  of 
letters.  Such  a  number  of  writers,  either  successive,  so  as 
to  compose  a  train  or  tissue  of  evidence,  or  contemporaneous, 
and  striking  their  lights  across  to  each  other,  make  up 
altogether  a  luminous  pathway,  along  which  there  are 
manifold  data  to  be  found  both  for  ascertaining  the  facts  of 
history,  and  for  fixing  the  degree  of  credit  which  is  due  to 
them.  It  may  be  difficult  so  to  describe  the  various  tests 
and  indications  of  historical  truth  that  they  shall  be  palpable 
to  those  who  are  not  in  contact  with  the  materials  of  this 
contemplation.  Nevertheless  they  are  such  that  the  men 
who  actually  engage  in  the  study  of  them,  the  scholars  who 
traverse  this  region,  feel  themselves  in  a  world  of  realities 
— holding  familiar  converse  with  the  living  men  and  their 
doings  both  of  other  countries  and  other  ages.  These  they 
can  discriminate  from  the  fictitious  personages  of  romance 
almost  as  confidently  as  we  among  the  things  which  are 
imm.ediately  around  us  can  discriminate  between  the  objects 
of  our  substantive  perception,  and  the  forms  or  phantasies 
of  mere  imagination.  It  is  thus  that  the  skepticism  of  Mr. 
Hume  as  to  things  past  could  no  more  strip  him  of  his 
historical  faith — once  that  he  laid  his  hands  and  brought  his 
judgment  to  bear  on  the  documents  of  history — than  his 
skepticism  in  things  present  could  lead  him  practically  to 
abjure  that  faith  which  he  and  all  men  have  ever  had  in  the 
evidence  of  the  senses.  One  might  almost  as  well  lapse 
into  universal  Pyrrhonism,  and  so  renounce  his  confidence 
in  all  truth,  as  regard  all  history  in  the  light  of  a  laborious 
deception,  practiced  for  the  entertainment  of  a  few  as  an 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  185 

experiment  on  the  credulity  of  future  ages.  In  spite  of  this 
monstrous  imagination,  history  abounds  in  the  marks  and 
characters  of  its  own  authenticity — and  so  that  by  the  con- 
sent of  all  men,  it  is  recognized  as,  on  the  whole,  a  faithful 
expounder  of  the  scenes  and  occurrences  of  the  times  that 
are  past. 

12.  We  have  just  stated  that  one  most  decisive  mark  of 
an  author's  character  for  veracity,  is  to  be  gathered  from 
the  respectful  appeals  which  are  made  to  him  and  to  his 
works  by  other  authors,  whether  subsequent  or  contem- 
poraneous—such as  we  meet  with  along  the  line  of  suc- 
cessive writers  to  the  compositions  of  Herodotus  and  Cicero 
and  Julius  Caesar.  Another  mark,  distinct  from  this,  yet 
commonly  regarded  as  an  external  evidence  too,  is  when 
one  author,  even  without  naming  or  taking  any  notice, 
whether  express  or  implied,  of  another,  deals  in  the  same 
statements  and  concurs  with  him  in  his  narrative,  more  or 
less  particular,  of  the  same  things.  If  the  testimonies  be 
distinct  and  independent  of  each  other,  then  there  lies  the 
same  sort  of  multiple  evidence  in  their  agreement  that  there 
is  in  the  consent  and  harmony  of  separate  depositions  made 
by  witnesses  in  a  court  of  justice,  and  between  whom  we 
are  satisfied  there  was  no  previous  collusion,  but  that  each 
speaks  on  his  own  original  and  peculiar  sources  of  informa- 
tion. And  though  it  would  lessen,  it  should  not  annihilate 
the  value  of  a  second  testimony  though  it  were  derived 
from  the  first,  and  had  no  other  foundation  than  it  to  rest 
upon — implying  as  it  would  that  the  later  writer  had  confi- 
dence in  the  one  who  went  before  him,  and  who  not  only 
must  have  been  relied  upon  by  those  who  reiterate  his 
statements,  but  may  also  have  had  a  certain  hold  on  the 
current  faith  of  their  readers,  seeing  that  there  is  no  appear- 
ance, but  perhaps  the  contrary,  of  their  having  been  re- 
volted by  these  statements  as  things  at  all  incredible  or  un- 
true, or  till  then  unheard  of  It  strengthens  one's  reliance 
on  the  principles  of  historical  evidence,  when  they  are  found 
to  meet  together  in  the  same  author,  insomuch  that  he  who 
is  most  upholden  by  the  outward  testimonies  of  his  fellows, 


186  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

is  also  the  most  palpably  characterized  by  those  internal 
marks  of  truth  and  nature  and  honesty  which  abound  in  his 
own  pages.  It  is  this  conjunction  of  evidences  which  secures 
such  a  universal  and  unquestioning  acceptance  for  the  works 
of  Cicero  and  Caesar,  and  leaves  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of 
the  reader,  that  the  orations  ascribed  to  the  one  were  his 
own  real  pleadings,  and  the  events  recorded  in  the  name  of 
the  other  were  his  own  real  transactions.  In  all  these  ways 
a  body  of  historical  information  has  descended  from  ancient 
to  modern  times ;  and  things  done  in  remote  ages  have 
obtained  a  stable,  and  we  will  add,  a  rightful  possession  of 
the  general  belief  of  mankind.* 

13.  There  are  other  considerations  on  the  subject  of  the 
historical  evidence  so  obviously  true,  that  they  do  not  require 
any  previous  or  formal  introduction  to  the  notice  of  the 
reader.  Of  these  the  most  important,  and  highly  available 
for  the  service  of  the  Christian  argument,  is  that,  all  other 
circumstances  being  equal,  that  author  is  most  entitled  to 
our  credit  who  lives  the  nearest,  whether  in  time  or  place, 
to  the  events  which  are  related  by  him. 

14.  But  besides  this  evidence  of  recorded  or  written  testi- 
monies, there  is  another  evidence  which,  though  looked 
upon  as  being  of  an  auxiliary  or  subordinate  character,  is 
nevertheless  of  a  very  impressive  description,  and  eminently 
fitted  to  sustain  our  general  faith  in  history  against  the  in- 
fluences of  that  morbid  skepticism  which  would  darken  and 
unsettle  all  our  conceptions  of  it.  It  has  been  sometimes 
termed  the  monumental  evidence  in  contradistinction  to  the 
documentary,  the  evidence  which  lies  in  those  direct  narra- 
tives that  have  come  down  to  us  of  the  events  which  took 
place  in  past  ages.  For  besides  these  events  having  given 
rise  to  those  written  relations  by  which  they  are  made  dis- 
tinctly and  particularly  known,  they  may  have  left  certain 

*  A  much  closer  and  better  sustained  chain  of  histoiical  evidence  for  the 
facts  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  for  the  integrity  of  these  records, 
than  for  any  other  documents  of  ancient  times.  As  specimens  of  the  fre- 
quency of  historical  allusions  in  Scripture,  take  the  following  texts, — 1  Sam. 
\i.  6 ;  Judg.  xi.  13-37  ;  John  iii.  14 ;  Heb.  xi. ;  Ps.  Ixxviii.  2-5;  Josh.  iv.  6, 
21.  22. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  187 

vestiges  behind  them,  which  might  serve  as  the  indices  or 
memorials  of  their  reality  even  to  the  present  hour ;  or  at 
least  be  so  far  implicated  with  the  transactions  of  which  we 
read  in  ancient  authors,  as,  if  not  fully  to  authenticate,  yet 
pleasingly  and  so  far  influentially  to  harmonize  with  the 
truth  of  their  story.  It  is  satisfactory  when  we  can  say, 
that  we  know  of  nothing  before  us  or  around  us,  which  is 
in  dissonance  with  the  histories  of  other  times ;  and  still 
more,  when  we  can  trace  a  positive  agreement  between 
things  present,  and  the  events  or  occurrences  of  distant 
centuries — an  agreement  which  one  might  conceive  to  be 
so  minute  and  so  manifold,  as  to  make  the  ocular  lend  a 
certain  confirmation  to  the  historical,  or  the  evidence  of  the 
senses  at  this  moment  to  coincide  with  the  evidence  of  testi- 
mony given  many  generations  before  our  day. 

15.  And  first,  geography,  though  not  in  all  respects  a 
monument  reared  by  human  hands,  may  be  well  regarded 
as  a  monumental  evidence  to  the  truth  of  history — bearing 
its  real,  though  inarticulate  testimony,  to  the  narratives  of 
former  ages,  many  of  which  could  not  possibly  have  been 
conducted  but  by  a  continuous  reference — as  in  describing 
the  movements  of  war — not  to  towns  and  nations  only,  but 
to  the  objects  of  greatest  stability  and  endurance  on  the 
face  of  our  globe.  For  example,  the  invasion  of  Britain  by 
Julius  Caesar,  as  narrated  by  himself,  is  made  all  the  more 
credible  by  his  telling  us  of  the  white  cliflfs  of  Dover,  and 
the  tides,  which,  as  phenomena  they  had  never  before  seen, 
so  perplexed  and  astonished  his  soldiers — realities  to  which 
the  shores  of  England,  as  seen  from  France,  and  the  waters 
both  of  the  North  Sea  and  Mediterranean,  still  bear  witness. 
The  same  evidence  will  be  found  to  accompany  both  his 
progress,  and  that  of  subsequent  commanders,  through  our 
island — as  when  they  march  through  Cantium,  the  Kent  of 
our  present  day,  or  cross  the  Tamesis,  our  modern  Thames, 
or  take  up  their  position  at  Londinum,  on  the  bank  of  that 
river,  the  embryo  of  London,  or  expatiate  in  manifold  di- 
rections, and  fight  or  quarter  in  various  localities  over  the 
land,  from  Cornwall,  the  same  mining  district  which  it  now 


INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


is,  tiir arrested  in  their  attempts  to  force  the  passes  of  the 
Grampians,  which,  at  the  end  of  two  thousand  years,  still 
bear  on  their  lofty  foreheads  the  same  aspect  of  defiance  to 
the  footsteps  of  the  invader.  It  is  thus  that  the  geography 
sustains  the  narrative,  and  is,  as  it  were,  one  of  the  buttresses 
of  history.  The  coincidence  between  the  one  and  the  other 
might  be  so  close  and  multiform,  as  if  not  altogether  beyond 
the  reach  of  imposture,  at  least  makes  it  difficult  to  imagine 
what  could  induce  the  author  of  a  work  of  fiction  to  undergo 
that  laborious  study  which  might  enable  him  to  sustain  the 
same  accuracy  which  a  traveler  does,  but  without  effort — 
simply  by  describing  the  journeys  which  he  actually  made, 
and  the  localities  through  which  he  moved,  or  the  actual 
scenes  which  passed  before  his  eyes.  The  geography  inter- 
woven with  these  various  narratives  is  in  such  good  keeping 
with  the  geography  of  the  earth,  as  it  now  stands,  that  we 
cannot  help  feeling  as  if  the  hand  of  a  describer,  and  not  of 
an  inventor,  was  employed  in  the  construction  of  them — so 
that  without  our  knowledge  of  hills  and  rivers  and  towns 
and  seas  and  islands,  with  their  positions  and  distances,  or, 
in  short,  wqth  our  knowledge  of  geography,  on  the  whole 
accurately  reflected  from  the  pages  of  ancient  history,  we 
cannot  help  regarding  the  one  as  in  some  sort  a  voucher  for 
the  other ;  and  hence  a  certain  impression  of  reality  which 
it  were  difficult  to  resist,  as  we  read  of  the  Roman  invasions 
of  Gaul ;  or,  more  ancient,  of  the  circuitous  route  of  Han- 
nibal when  he  effected  his  passage  of  the  Alps;  or  of  the 
wars  in  Spain,  and  Sicily,  and  Carthage;  or  of  the  internal 
conflicts  in  Greece,  with  its  Peloponnesus  and  its  Achaia  and 
its  Archipelago,  set  before  us  in  such  characters  and  rela- 
tions to  each  other  as  might  be  verified  by  every  traveler; 
or  of  its  invasion  by  Xerxes ;  or  of  the  rapid  conquests  of 
Alexander — where  the  places  described  and  the  things  done 
in  them,  the  localities  and  the  transactions,  throw  such  light 
and  confirmation  on  each  other,  as  so  far  serves,  at  least  in 
their  great  and  general  lineaments,  to  accredit  both,  and 
makes  it  absolutely  impossible  for  us  to  believe  that  all 
history  is  a  lie. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  189 

16.  Language,  the  vehicle  of  history,  is  itself  a  monu- 
ment, not  in  v^hat  it  says,  for  this  is  expressly  or  articulately 
historical ;  but  in  the  fact  that  such  should  still  be  the 
countries  where  such  languages  are  spoken,  we  may  often 
discern  the  vestiges  of  those  great  national  movements 
v^hereof  we  have  a  separate  and  anterior  evidence  in  the 
records  of  other  days — such  as  the  deep  infusion  of  Latin 
in  the  languages  of  Italy  and  Spain  and  France  and  England 
— all  bearing  witness  to  the  conquests  and  settlements  of 
the  ancient  Romans.  Such,  too,  is  the  continued  subsistence 
of  the  modern  Greek,  still  adhering,  and  with  wonderful 
entireness,  to  the  very  region  over  which  the  triumphs  of 
its  eloquence  and  works  of  enduring  literature  have  shed 
an  imperishable  glory.  There  is  the  same  monumental 
character  in  the  surviving  names  of  a  multitude  of  places 
which  could  be  specified,  being  identical  with  those  given 
to  the  same  places  in  works  of  high  antiquity — as  Rome, 
and  Egypt,  and  Greece,  and  Athens,  and  Italy,  and  His- 
pania,  or  Spain,  and  Britain,  and  Sicily,  and  ^tna,  and 
Vesuvius,  and  thousands  more,  whether  of  towns  or  coun- 
tries or  rivers  or  mountains — an  identity  this  which  is  fitted 
to  beget,  or  helps  to  strengthen,  our  confidence,  both  in  the 
history  which  tells,  and  the  tradition  which  transmits  them 
from  generation  to  generation.  The  very  derivation  of 
these  names  serves  to  authenticate  the  persons,  or  the  trans- 
actions in  which  they  originated — as  the  Alexandria  of 
Egypt,  and  the  Caesarea  of  Palestine  ;  and  the  numerous 
towns  of  England  which  bespeak  them  to  have  been  the 
sites  of  old  Roman  encampments,  when  the  country  was  in 
a  state  of  military  occupation  —  as  Chester,  and  Wood- 
chester,  and  Dorchester,  and  Doncaster,  and  Muncaster, 
and  Cirencester,  and  Excester,  now  Exeter,  the  camp  on 
the  river  Ex,  and  upwards  of  fifty  more,  which  tell  not  of 
details,  to  be  sure,  but  tell  most  decisively  of  a  time  when 
the  Romans  had  their  fortifications  and  place  of  security  all 
over  England,  and  so,  at  least,  of  a  real  and  sufficient 
groundwork  for  all  such  details  as  the  pen  of  the  historian 
has  recorded. 


190  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

17.  But  the  strictly  and  properly  monumental  is  a  work 
of  human  hands,  reared,  perhaps,  many  centuries  ago,  and 
which  may  still  be  looked  upon  by  human  eyes — whether 
as  subsisting  in  a  state  of  entireness,  or  as  presenting  only 
the  ruins  and  the  vestiges  of  what  it  once  was — nay  only,  as 
the  mounds  of  Babylon,  pointing  out  the  site  of  mighty 
towns  and  edifices  which  have  now  been  swept  away. 
There  is  a  deal  of  history  embodied  in  the  temples  and 
camps  and  roads  and  aqueducts  of  the  Romans,  and  some 
degree  of  evidence  cast  upon  it  by  the  coincidence  between 
its  description  of  these  then,  and  our  observation  of  them 
now.  And  there  is  something  still  more  confirmatory  ot 
our  historic  faith  in  what  might  be  termed  commemorative 
architecture,  and  more  especially,  if  sculpture  be  superadd- 
ed— for  which  we  might  adduce  the  pillar  of  Trajan  as 
an  example  of  the  first,  and  yet  more  impressive,  the  arch 
of  Titus  as  an  example  of  the  second,  where  there  is  rep- 
resented in  stone  the  identical  procession  which  Josephus 
describes  in  his  written  history,  when,  to  grace  the  tri- 
umph of  the  conquerors,  the  ark  of  the  testimony,  and  the 
candlestick,  and  the  trumpets  found  in  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
were  selected  from  the  spoils  of  Jerusalem,  and  borne  aloft 
in  the  view  of  Rome's  exulting  citizens.  We  confess  to  a 
livelier  sense  of  the  reality  of  these  things  when  we  thus 
see  them  pictured  before  our  eyes  on  the  face  of  a  contem- 
porary monument.  The  invariable  practice  of  the  Jews 
is  to  turn  aside  from  the  road  which  passes  beneath  this 
arch,  and,  by  making  an  exterior  circuit,  to  avoid  coming 
under  the  memorial  of  their  nation's  overthrow — thus  su- 
peradding to  the  evidence  of  a  monumental  object  what 
might  well  be  termed  the  evidence  of  a  monumental  obserr 
vation,  of  which  it  is  interesting  to  know,  that  it  should 
thus  have  lasted  during  the  long  period  of  eighteen  hun- 
dred years. 

I  cannot  close  this  enumeration  without  adverting  to  an- 
other species  of  that  evidence  which  lies  in  the  subsisting 
material  that  serves  to  indicate,  and  so  to  prove,  if  not  the 
details,  at   least  the  generalities  of  ancient  history — we 


EVIDExNCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  191 

mean  the  evidence  of  ancient  coins,  which  have  been  v^ell 
termed  the  medallions  of  history.  They  cannot  strictly  be 
called  inarticulate  because  of  their  inscriptions ;  but  still 
we  would  put  them  in  the  class  of  monumental,  because 
they  tell  us  a  great  deal  more  than  is  announced  by  the  few 
words  which  appear  upon  their  faces.  Sometimes  the  very 
device  represents  a  story ;  and  though  the  words  may  give 
us  little  more  than  the  name  of  a  potentate,  yet  they  may 
often  satisfy  us  that  the  armies  of  that  monarch  had  either 
passed  over,  or  were  even  in  possession  of  the  country 
where  such  materials  are  found.  For  example,  we  learn  a 
great  deal  from  the  known  fact  of  Roman  coins,  with  the 
names  of  Trajan,  or  the  Antonines,  or  some  other  emperor 
upon  them,  being  found  every  where  in  Britain,  just  as  the 
tessellated  and  Mosaic  pavements  are  on  this  side  of  the 
Grampians,  but  nowhere  beyond  them.  And  to  us  it  has 
always  appeared  not  only  a  most  interesting,  but  a  most 
confirmatory  agreement  between  the  past  accounts  and 
present  vestiges  of  some  great  movement  in  the  affairs  of  the 
world — that  the  line  of  march  assigned  by  history  to  Alexan- 
der's armies  across  Asia  should  be  strewn  with  Macedonian 
coins,  even  as  our  own  Britain  is  with  the  coins  of  the  an- 
cient Romans.  We  do  not  say  that  there  lies  in  either  of 
these  facts  any  very  detailed  or  particular  information. 
Nevertheless,  they  bear  a  strong  evidence  to  the  general 
truth  of  history ;  and  are  fitted  to  act  as  a  wholesome  re- 
storative on  that  mind,  which,  by  giving  itself  waywardly 
and  without  all  reserve  (we  may  well  add  without  all  rea- 
son) to  the  influence  of  doubts,  has  landed  itself  in  a  state 
of  extravagant  and  diseased  skepticism.  Brief  as  our  re- 
marks have  been  on  this  monumental  evidence,  we  should 
not  have  ventured  to  introduce  them  into  a  theological 
course,  did  we  not  conceive  that  Christianity  is  rich  in  the 
examples  of  it;  and  that  while  the  evangelical  narrative 
mainly  reposes  on  the  direct  and  historical  evidences  of 
our  faith,  it  is  further  nobly  accredited  by  these  silent  ves- 
tiges of  its  truth  which  are  ever  accumulating  on  our  hands, 
as  explored  and  brought  to  light  by  the  antiquarians  and 


192  INSTITUTES  OF   THEOLOGY. 

the  travellers  of  our  modern  day.  It  is  a  kind  of  evidence 
which  should  not  be  passed  over  unnoticed  ;  and  more  es- 
pecially as  there  are  certain  of  its  varieties — we  mean  its 
monumental  practices  or  monumental  observations  as  dis- 
tinguished from  monumental  objects — out  of  which  the  ele- 
ments of  a  resistless  demonstration  might  be  formed.  1 
will  for  once  anticipate  the  subject  of  the  Christian  evi- 
dences, by  recommending  as  far  the  most  illustrious  speci- 
men of  those  vestiges  which  powerfully  bespeak  its  truth, 
a  short  tract,  entitled  Leslie's  Short  and  Easy  Method  with 
the  Deists,  where  he  irresistibly  demonstrates  the  authen- 
ticity both  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  histories  from  their 
origin  downwards,  by  certain  observations  that  took  place 
under  the  Hebrew  economy,  and  by  the  observation  now 
both  of  our  Sabbath  and  our  sacraments.* 

*  The  monumental  evidence  is  far  from  being  fully  explored ;  there  is  a 
rich  mine  of  it  in  reserve  for  future  ti-avelers  and  investigators.  For  a  few- 
scriptural  specimens  of  this  kind  of  evidence,  see  Josh.  vii.  26  ;  1  Sam.  vi. 
18;  Josh.  X.  27  ;  Jer.  xli.  16  ;  Obad.  1-4,  as  compared  wdth  Robinson's  Re- 
searches in  Palestine,  vol.  i.  408,  and  ii.  485. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ON  THE   INTERNAL  HISTORICAL  EVIDENCE  FOR  THE  TRUTH 

OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

1.  One  cannot  open  the  records  of  the  evangelical  dis- 
pensation, which,  speaking  largely,  fill  up  the  whole  Bible, 
or  compose  the  entire  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  JNew  Tes- 
tament, without  recognizing  a  certain  lofty  and  sustained 
moral  earnestness  which  seems  at  least  to  actuate  every 
writer,  and  shines  forth  upon  all  his  pages.  One  thing  is 
palpable  throughout — its  reigning  and  ascendant  godliness. 
God  is  obviously  the  all  in  all  of  the  Bible ;  and  whatever 
system  may  be  gathered  out  of  its  contents,  He  is  the  soul 
and  center  of  that  system.  Every  where  are  that  place 
and  pre-eminence  awarded  which  are  proper  to  Him  as 
supreme  God.  In  the  language  of  Bishop  Butler,  the 
world  is  all  along  viewed — as  it  is  in  none  other  of  its  his- 
tories— that  is,  as  God's  world,  and  all  who  live  in  it  as 
God's  creatures,  whose  actions  should  ever  be  determined 
and  controlled  by  the  paramount  considerations  of  His  will 
and  His  law.  And  this  will  is  manifestly,  we  add  uni- 
formly, on  the  side  of  piety,  and  truth,  and  justice,  and  hu- 
manity, and  self-government,  and  all  the  other  duties  of  the 
most  pure  and  perfect  morality.  The  two  or  three  cases 
which  might  be  deemed  at  first  sight  as  startling  exceptions 
to  this  character  of  high  and  immaculate  virtuousness,  have 
been  admirably  well  disposed  of  by  Butler,  and  we  accept 
his  account  of  them  as  a  full  and  satisfactory  vindication. 

The  extermination  of  the  Canaanites,  and  spoiling  of  the 
Egyptians  by  the  children  of  Israel,  at  the  express  bidding 
of  God,  and  for  a  special  object,  serve  no  more  to  legalize 
either  murder  or  fraud  than  does  the  imposition  of  fines, 
or  of  capital  punishments,  by  the  civil  magistrate  in  the 
administration  of  his  government.     They  are  as  distinct 

VOL.  VII — I 


194  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

from  each  other  as  the  administrative  acts  of  a  goverE- 
ment  are  distinct  from  its  laws.  There  might  hang  a  dif- 
ficuhy  over  certain  of  the  proceedings  of  God  as  recorded 
in  the  Bible ;  but  in  the  laws  of  God  as  promulgated  there, 
there  is  nothing  to  perplex  us.  They  are  at  one  with  the 
law  of  the  heart,  and  with  the  ethical  system  of  our  best 
and  most  enlightened  moralists. 

2.  We  do  not  at  present  allege  this  pure  and  high  moral- 
ity of  Scripture  in  argument  for  its  divinity,  but  as  afford- 
ing a  strong  presumption  for  the  honesty  of  those  writers 
whose  office  it  was  to  expound  it ;  and  who  have  expounded 
it  in  a  way  so  perfectly  spontaneous  and  single-minded, 
without  the  least  appearance  of  laying  a  force  upon  them- 
selves in  the  utterances  given  forth  by  them,  all  of  which 
seem  to  flow  in  the  natural  current  of  their  own  feelings, 
and  to  bear  the  impress  of  their  own  character.  They  in- 
deed seem,  one  and  all  of  them,  most  thoroughly  to  have 
imbibed  the  spirit  of  that  morality  which,  they  inculcate ; 
and  if  written  language  have  the  power  at  all  to  impress 
one  with  the  conviction  of  its  sincerity,  if  it  have  any  of 
the  natural  signs  or  characteristics  of  truth  belonging  to  it 
— if  ever  the  mind  of  an  author  can  be  seen  in  his  writings, 
or  if  the  effusions  of  the  pen  be  capable  of  the  same  moral 
impress  upon  them  as  the  utterances  of  the  mouth,  then  is 
it  difficult  to  interpret  otherwise,  than  for  the  high-toned 
integrity  of  Moses,  when  he  records  his  own  foibles,  while 
he  denounces  the  perversities  of  Israel ;  and  the  faithful- 
ness, as  well  as  fervency  of  the  psalmist — his  truth  in  the 
inward  parts,  whether  when  humbled  to  the  dust,  he  pours 
forth  the  confessions  of  his  own  vileness,  or  breathes  his 
desires  and  aspirations  after  the  living  God  ;  or  the  intrepid 
Jionesty  of  the  old  prophets  in  their  loud  and  lofty  remon- 
strances against  the  sins  of  the  people ;  or,  last  of  all,  the 
guileless  simplicity  of  the  apostles  and  disciples  of  our 
Lord,  whose  very  character  indeed,  as  portrayed  by  his 
evangelists,  is  in  itself  a  guarantee  for  the  truthfulness  of 
their  narratives — insomuch  that  the  most  eloquent  of  infi- 
dels was  constrained  to  acknowledge,  that  if  the  gospel  be 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHlfllSTIAxNITY.  195 

indeed  an  invention,  the  inventor  was  more  miraculous  than 
the  hero.  This  argument  were  of  weight,  even  had  there 
been  but  one  writer  of  the  Bible.  But  it  is  mightily- 
strengthened  by  the  combination  of  so  many,  and  these  too 
of  widely  difierent  ages,  yet  all  actuated  by  one  spirit,  a 
pervading  and  dominant  sacredness — a  spirit  that  might 
well  be  termed  unearthly,  for  almost  exclusively  their  own; 
or,  at  least,  saving  a  few  apocryphal  writers,  of  the  same 
priestly  and  selected  nation,  and  of  some  imperfect  and 
obscure  family  likeness  to  the  historians  and  prophets  and 
apostles  of  the  Bible,  theirs  altogether  is  a  spirit  and  a 
character  so  unique  that  we  cannot  recognize  it  in  any  au- 
thors of  antiquity  but  themselves — as  if  all  were  fed  and 
supplied  from  one  perennial  source ;  or  as  if  sent  to  our 
world  on  some  great  design,  though  at  sundry  times  and 
in  divers  manners,  all  were  alike  intent  on  their  one 
errand,  and  alike  impressed  by  a  sense  of  their  high  calling.* 
3.  Passing  over  much  of  what  is  even  peculiar  in  my 
own  views,  let  me  earnestly  recommend,  however,  your 
attention  to  our  treatment  of  Hume's  infidelity  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Christian  miracles,  as,  if  you  accept  the  refuta- 
tion that  I  have  ventured  to  offer,  it  will  give  a  thoroughly 
experimental  character  to  the  literary  credentials  of  reve- 
lation. And  yet  in  spite  of  all  my  value  for  this  principle, 
there  is  another  lesson  which  I  am  still  more  anxious  to 
impress,  and  that  is,  the  self-evidencing  powerof  the  Bible, 
in  virtue  of  which  it  carries  conviction  along  with  it  even 
to  the  minds  of  its  own  simple  readers,  who  have  nothing 
else  to  proceed  upon  than  those  marks  of  honesty  and 
trustworthiness  which  they  descry  in  the  volume  itself. 
This  evidence  is  not  confined  to  the  manifestations  which 

*  The  high  tone  of  sacredness  and  pure  morality  which  pervades  all  the 
writings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  a  most  impressive  token  of  their 
credibility.  And  the  argument  mightily  enhanced  by  the  number  and  dis- 
tance and  unconnected ness  of  the  writers,  along  with  the  unique  character 
which  they  maintain  iii  contrast  to  all  authorship  not  derived  from  the  Bible. 
This  peculiarity  can  only  be  explained  on  the  supposition  that  all  the  books 
of  Scripture  flowed  from  one  and  the  same  supernal  source.  It  is  felt  by 
men  of  moral  earnestness  that  the  Bible  speaks  thus  for  itself,  see  John  viii. 
46  ;  John  x.  4  :  Matt.  xii.  25-32. 


196  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  subject-matter  of  the  Christian  doctrine  makes  of  its 
own  adaptations  to  the  fears,  and  the  feehngs,  and  the  con- 
scious guilt  of  humanity.  You  may  recollect  the  distinc- 
tion I  made  between  the  internal  historical  and  the  external 
historical  evidence  for  the  truth  of  the  evangelical  narra- 
tive. 1  will  not  say  of  an  unlettered  peasant,  who  has 
received  but  the  average  of  popular  education,  that  he  is 
prepared  for  appreciating  the  latter  evidence,  that  is,  the 
external  historical ;  but  conversant  as  he  is  with  the  natu- 
ral signs  of  these  in  spoken,  and  to  a  certain  degree,  too^ 
in  written  language,  he  is  to  a  considerable  extent  qualified, 
if  not  for  rightly  estimating,  at  least  for  being  rightly  im- 
pressed, by  what  I  have  called  the  internal  historical  evi- 
dence for  the  truth  of  Christianity.  As  for  the  evidence 
grounded  on  that  tone  of  sincerity  and  sacredness  where- 
with the  writings  of  Scripture  are  pervaded,  it  is  an  evi- 
dence of  which  he  might  feel  the  force,  and  into  which  he 
can  fully  enter.  He,  too,  can  discern  the  natural  signs 
of  truth  of  which  I  have  spoken — the  simplicity,  the  direct- 
ness, the  obvious  moral  earnestness — that  whole  spirit  of 
seriousness  and  solemnity  which  is  so  manifestly  in  keeping 
at  least  with  the  assumed  character  of  messengers  to  the 
world  from  the  upper  sanctuary,  and  that  on  some  theme 
of  grave  and  mighty  import,  on  the  most  urgent  duties  and 
interests  of  those  to  whom  they  addressed  themselves.  Of 
all  these,  as  I  said  before,  he  can  feel  the  force,  though  I 
do  not  pretend  to  say  that  he  can  compute  the  force  of 
them.  But  neither,  I  believe,  could  the  most  profound  of 
our  literary  and  scientific  men  compute  the  force  of  them; 
for  the  elements  of  this  proposed  computation,  though  real 
and  weighty,  are  not  very  measurable.  You  could  not 
arithmetically  state  at  how  great  a  probability  this  one  part 
and  that  other  of  the  internal  historical  evidence  ought  to 
be  estimated ;  so  that  in  this  department  of  the  evidences, 
though  any  peasant  may  undergo  the  direct,  there  is  no 
man,  whether  peasant  or  philosopher,  who  can  fully  and 
accurately  describe  the  reflex  process.  Now  you  remem- 
ber that  in  a  former  instance — the  instance,  I  mean,  of  the 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  197 

miraculous  evidence— I  did,  I  hope,  make  it  manifest  that 
the  direct  process  had  been  gone  through  soundly  and  well, 
though  the  reflex  process  never  had  been  delineated  for  at 
least  1700  years  from  the  days  of  the  apostles — when  it 
was  at  length  found  to  coincide  with,  and  lend  an  ample 
confirmation  to  the  direct  convictions  of  those  to  whom  it 
was  altogether  unknown :  and  that  thus  the  evidence  of 
miracles  is  still  doing  its  proper  and  immediate  work  on 
the  minds  of  inquirers,  whether  or  not  they  shall  ever  at- 
tend to  or  ever  understand  the  skeptical  objection  of  Hume, 
and  the  refutation  which  has  been  given  of  it.  But  if  the 
direct  process  be  independent  of  the  reflex  in  this  instance, 
why  may  it  not  be  so  in  all  other  instances,  and  more  espe- 
cially in  the  instance  now  before  us  ?  If,  in  the  one  case, 
the  direct  told,  and  told  not  only  effectually  but  rightly,  and 
long  before  the  reflex  was  discovered,  why  may  it  not,  in 
the  other  case  tell  both  effectually  and  rightly,  although  the 
reflex  should  never  be  discovered  at  all  ?  The  force  of 
that  evidence  which  lies  in  the  obvious  characteristics  of 
truth  and  honesty  that  are  on  the  face  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  might  be  a  real  though  not  a  calculable  quan- 
tity. But  though  no  man,  therefore,  can  tell  us  how  great, 
this  might  not  hinder  its  being  so  great  as  rightly  to  carry 
the  convictions  of  those  who,  in  the  act  of  reading  these 
works,  with  simple  moral  earnestness,  have  laid  open  their 
minds  to  the  influence  thereof.  In  other  words,  this  evi- 
dence too,  like  the  evidence  of  miracles,  might  be  doing,  and 
doing  soundly  and  well,  its  own  immediate  work  on  thou- 
sands of  learners  who  are  utterly  incapable  of  philosophiz- 
ing it.  I  trust  I  have  already  said  enough  to  convince  you, 
that  however  interesting  a  work  it  may  be  to  philosophize 
any  branch  of  evidence,  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  evidence 
should  be  philosophized  for  the  purpose  of  being  brought  to 
bear  on  the  subject  mind,  and  working  there  its  own  right- 
ful impression  upon  the  understanding.  Here,  then,  in  this 
evidence — the  evidence  which  lies  in  the  marks  given 
throughout  the  Bible  of  the  sacredness  and  sincerity  of  its 
various  writers,  an  evidence  patent  to  the  intuitive  percep- 


198  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

tion,  and  fitted  to  engage  the  moral  sympathies  of  all  men — 
here  might  we  behold  the  instrumental  cause  of  many  a 
well-founded  belief,  of  many  a  sound  and  right  and  saving 
conversion  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  This  is  one  of  the 
many  ingredients  w^hich  make  up  what  has  been  called  the 
self-evidencing  power  of  the  Bible — felt,  and  most  legiti- 
mately felt,  in  cottages,  though  never  yet  adequately  philoso- 
phized in  any  of  the  schools  of  learning — a  light  struck  out 
between  the  Bible  and  our  own  moral  perceptions,  and  suf- 
ficieat  to  guide  the  v^^ay  of  many  an  humble  inquirer  into 
heaven.  It  is  thus  difficult  to  read  any  of  the  scriptural 
writers,  if  we  but  read  with  some  degree  of  moral  earnest- 
ness, without  the  feeling  of  their  deep  sincerity,  and  w^hich 
must  tell  therefore  to  a  certain  extent  upon  our  confidence 
in  the  act  of  perusing  them.  But  truth  has  various  signa- 
tures ;  and  it  is  possible  that,  on  a  leisurely  and  reflex  exam- 
ination of  the  writings  themselves,  we  might  discover  some 
of  them.  It  is  well  to  be  possessed  at  the  first  by  an  author's 
seeming  seriousness ;  but  on  looking  to  his  work  and  to  its 
subject-matter,  we  might  fall  in  with  other  tests  of  integrity 
besides  this,  which,  if  wanting,  will  nullify  the  promises 
given  at  the  outset,  and  therefore  subvert  his  credit ;  or 
which,  if  verified,  will  serve  to  ratify  and  confirm  it. 

4.  Now  the  first  of  these  marks,  as  we  have  already  inti- 
mated, is  the  thorough  and  sustained  consistency  of  each 
writer  with  himself:  and  this  mark  or  criterion  is  all  the 
more  decisive,  the  more  minute  and  varied  and  circumstan- 
tial are  the  statements  or  narratives  in  which  he  deals. 
There  are  many  of  the  single  pieces,  both  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  which  separately  and  in  themselves,  are 
most  fitting  subjects  for  the  application  of  this  touchstone, 
insomuch  that  if  they  are  made  to  undergo  this  ordeal,  and 
come  forth  unhurt  and  vindicated,  a  great  deal  more  might 
have  been  gained  by  the  process  than  the  mere  refutation 
of  a  charge,  but  over  and  above,  a  strong  substantive  argu- 
ment for  the  veracity  of  their  authors.  It  is  thus  that  the 
enemies  of  our  faith  have,  in  more  instances  than  one,  called 
forth  its  friends  and  its  defenders  to  a  field  of  battle  on  which 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  199 

they  had  never  before  entered  ;  and  where,  besides  repelling 
the  attack,  they  earned  a  large  positive  accession  of  such 
proofs  and  evidences  on  the  side  of  the  Christian  revelation 
as  till  then  had  been  uanoticed  and  unheard  of.  For  after 
reconcihno^  the  allecred  contradictions  on  which  infidels  tried 
to  discredit  the  evangelical  story,  they,  in  prosecution  of 
the  walk  on  which  they  had  been  led  by  the  challenge  of 
their  adversaries,  have  discovered  such  a  number  of  recon- 
dite harmonies  and  before  unobserved  relations  between 
one  part  and  another,  as  no  impostor  would  ever  have  con- 
trived ;  or  as,  if  he  had  contrived  them,  he  never  would 
have  so  placed  beneath  the  apparent  and  the  palpable, 
as  to  have  been  hidden  from  all  eyes  for  many  centuries, 
till  excavated  by  the  learning  and  the  labors  of  a  far  distant 
posterity.  The  only  account  which  can  be  given  of  these 
numerous,  and,  to  all  appearance,  these  artless,  unlabored, 
and  undesigned  consistencies,  is,  that  they  have  a  common 
groundwork  in  that  truth  which  is  ever  consistent  with 
itself;  and  the  argument  becomes  ail  the  more  satisfactory 
when  there  is  the  same  author  for  more  than  one  of  these 
separate  scriptural  compositions — as,  if  in  the  fabrication  of 
these  any  imposture  have  been  at  all  concerned,  there  is  a 
wider  field  of  comparison,  and  so  a  larger  exposure  for  the 
detection  of  it — a  greater  number,  as  it  were,  of  vulnerable 
places  through  \rhich  an  opening  might  be  made  for  the 
discovery  of  some  falsehood  or  frailty,  should  any  suclj 
there  be.  It  is  thus  that  in  the  Pentateuch,  of  which  Moses 
was  mainly  the  author,  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  book 
admit  of  being  confronted  with  the  remaining  one,  which 
contains  a  review  or  recapitulation  of  the  whole ;  and 
accordingly,  in  Graves'  Lectures  on  this  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture, we  have  those  very  harmonies  evolved  which  compose 
the  kind  of  argument  that  we  are  now  speaking  of.  This, 
however,  is  still  more  impressively  given  by  Dr.  Paley, 
when  he  exhibits  the  minute  and  circumstantial  agreements 
that  he  seai-ches  out  among  the  epistles  of  Paul — all  the 
more  impressive  that  they  have  thus  to  be  sought  for  instead 
of  lying  patently  and  ostensibly  before  us. 


200  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

5.  But  this  evidence  grows  both  in  richness  and  strengtii 
when  we  enlarge  the  comparison,  by  instituting  a  cross- 
examination  between  one  scriptural  author  and  another. 
And  so  it  comes  forth  in  full  power  under  the  hands  of 
Paley,  who,  in  his  Horce  PauUnce,  has  given  a  masterly 
specimen  of  the  way  in  which  truth  might  be  elicited,  and 
from  no  other  data  before  him  than  the  contents  of  two  or 
more  ancient  records  having  a  common  subject,  without 
the  knowledge  of  any  foreign  testimonies  whatever  on  their 
behalf,  simply  from  the  minute  and  manifold  adaptation  of 
part  and  counterpart  between  them.  He  constructs  his 
argument,  as  conclusive  and  irrefragable  as  can  well  be 
imagined,  from  the  depositions  only  of  two  witnesses — of 
Paul,  the  author  of  his  own  epistles,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  writer  of  his  direct  history  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
on  the  other.  Altogether  he  presents  us  with  a  resistless 
demonstration,  and  so  multiplies  the  instances,  that  if  laid 
together  and  the  arithmetic  of  probabilities  were  applied  to 
them,  the  amount  of  proof  would  be  found  on  the  clearest 
principles  of  computation  to  be  quite  overwhelming.  He 
has  been  followed  by  others  in  the  same  track  of  investiga- 
tion, a  track  which  he  may  be  said  to  have  first  opened— 
who,  if  not  so  striking,  it  may  be  owing  to  their  not  being 
so  fortunate  as  he  in  having  alighted  on  the  most  fitting 
materials  for  such  an  argument.  Besides  Graves  we  would 
Recommend  Blunt,  who  constructs  his  reasoning  on  the 
coincidences  which  he  points  out  between  the  gospels  of  the 
four  EvangeHsts. 

6.  So  long  as  we  are  employed  in  evincing  the  consist- 
ency of  an  author  with  himself,  the  evidence  thence  deduced 
is  strictly  internal.  The  question  is  (a  mere  question  of 
nomenclature),  whether  the  evidence  of  those  numerous 
consistencies  which  obtain  between  one  author  and  another 
should  not  more  properly  be  referred  to  the  class  of  the  ex- 
ternal evidences.  There  is  no  inclination  for  doing  so 
while  engaged  in  comparing  one  Scriptural  author  with 
another — as  Paul  with  the  writer  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
and  the  writers  of  the  four  gospels  among  themselves.     The 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  20] 

disposition  is  to  rank  the  evidence  elicited  by  this  last 
process  amongst  the  internal  evidences,  because  all  the 
materials  out  of  which  it  is  extracted  happen  to  lie  within 
the  limits  of  one  volume,  that  is  the  Bible.  But  I  would 
have  you  to  remark,  that  in  respect  of  force  and  quality, 
the  evidence  for  the  veracity  of  one  scriptural  writer  may 
be  altogether  the  same  which  is  drawn  from  the  sustained 
agreement  between  his  narratives  and  that  of  another  writer, 
whether  the  second  be  a  scriptural  or  an  exscriptural  writer. 
All  the  separate  pieces  of  the  Bible,  it  should  be  remarked, 
came  out  separately  at  the  first;  and  there  is  surely  nothing 
in  the  mere  circumstance  of  their  being  bound  together  into 
one  compilation,  with  one  general  title,  which  can  in  the 
least  affect  the  strength,  however  much  it  may  have  reduced 
the  impression,  of  the  argument  that  is  grounded  on  the 
nicer  harmonies  between  them,  which  can  only  be  made 
palpable  by  a  laborious  and  searching  examination.  In  this 
respect,  the  comparison  of  the  scriptural  Luke,  author  of  the 
book  of  Acts,  with  the  scriptural  Paul,  is  on  the  same  foot- 
ing as  is  the  comparison  of  scriptural  Luke  with  exscriptural 
Josephus.  Yet  it  is  in  passing  from  the  former  to  the  latter 
comparison  that  we  are  apt  to  feel  as  if  passing  from  the 
study  of  an  internal  to,  or  at  least  toward,  the  study  of  an 
external  evidence.  If  this  were  merely  a  question  of  names, 
we  might  pass  it  by  ;  but  it  is  truly  a  question  which  affects 
the  reality  and  the  substance  of  things  ;  for  our  strong 
tendency  is  to  set  a  far  greater  argumentative  value  on  such 
agreements  as  we  can  make  out  between  Josephus  or  Philo 
and  some  one  of  the  evangelists  or  apostles,  than  on  the  like 
agreements  of  the  evangelists  and  apostles  with  each  other. 
I  make  this  observation  now  to  prepare  you  for  expecting, 
that  whereas  in  the  study  of  the  historical  argument,  we 
are  apt  to  look  for  it  in  its  main  strength  and  validity  only 
among  the  works  of  profane  or  uncanonical  writers,  we 
may  in  fact  meet,  and  in  greater  force,  within  the  confines 
of  the  sacred  record  itself,  the  very  evidence  we  are  in 
quest  of.  This  we  hope  to  show  palpably  enough  in  other 
parts  of  the  historical  argument.     And  meanwhile  it  is  well 

I* 


202  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

that  we  can  say  of  the  evidence  which  now  engages  us — 
that  is,  the  evidence  grounded  on  those  nicer  harmonies 
between  one  writer  and  another,  which  serve  most  of  all  to 
indicate  the  common  veracity  of  each,  whether  it  be  evolved 
by  the  comparison  of  one  scriptural  writer  with  another,  or 
by  the  comparison  of  a  scriptural  with  an  exscriptural — that 
we  have  enough  of  both.  For  the  best  exhibition  of  the 
first,  I  again  refer  you  to  Paley's  HorcB  Paulince;  and  for  a 
convincing  display  of  the  second,  I  would  bid  you  read  the 
First  Part  of  Lardner's  "Credibility  of  the  Gospel  History," 
in  which  he  undertakes  to  show  that  the  facts  occasionally 
mentioned  in  the  New  Testament  are  confirmed  by  passages 
of  ancient  authors,  who  were  contemporary  with  our 
Saviour  or  His  apostles,  or  lived  near  their  time.* 

7.  When  two  or  more  historians  write  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, there  are  two  distinct  sorts  of  evidence  that  may  be 
educed  by  comparing  them  together.  The  first  we  have 
already  adverted  to,  and  may  be  denominated  the  circum- 
stantial evidence,  as  grounded  on  that  sustained  agreement, 
even  in  the  minutest  traits  and  incidents  of  the  narrative, 
which  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the  common  fidelity 
wherewith  each  describes  the  same  subject-matter.  This 
is  an  evidence  greatly  enhanced  by  the  absence  of  all 
seeming  art  or  design  in  the  construction  of  the  respective 
histories.  For  while  nothing  is  more  difficult  to  disguise 
than  the  endeavor  to  sustain  a  harmony  amongst  writers 
who  have  entered  into  concert  or  collusion  with  each  other 
— on  the  other  hand,  there  is  nothing  strained  or  artificial  in 
each  giving  forth  his  own  independent  statement,  either  of 
what  he  has  seen  with  his  own  eyes,  or  learned  on  the 
authorities  whom  he  himself  hath  consulted  for  his  own 
separate  satisfaction.  But  besides  this  circumstantial  evi- 
dence arising  from  such  an  agreement  in  things  minute  and 
incidental,  there  is  also  the  multiple  evidence  aflforded  by 
the  composition  and  number  of  testimonies  for  one  and  the 

*  A  vast  mine  of  internal  evidence  in  the  hai-monies,  only  yet  elicited  in 
part,  from  the  comparison  between  one  part  of  Scripture  v^^ith  another. — 
1  Gor.  ii,  13. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  203 

same  event.  This  in  fact  is  the  most  direct  and  obvious 
benefit  of  combined  testimony,  the  one  most  palpable  and 
most  counted  on  ;  and  therefore  not  only  required  in  courts 
of  justice,  but  felt  also  to  be  the  greatest  support  and 
strengthener  of  historic  faith.  At  the  mouth  of  two  or  three 
witnesses  every  word  shall  be  established.  The  rapidity 
wherewith  the  evidence  grows  at  each  successive  confirm- 
ation of  it,  is  felt  by  all,  though  calculated  by  few.  If  each 
separate  testimony  of  four,  that  had  been  rendered  in  favor 
of  any  particular  event,  yielded  of  itself  the  probability  of 
ten  to  one  on  the  side  of  its  truth,  the  concurrence  of  the 
four  would  yield  a  probability  equal  to  the  product  of  all 
these,  or  be  as  much  as  ten  thousand  to  one  for  our  belief 
of  the  truth  of  the  tiling  in  question. 

8.  Now  if  men  will  persist  in  designing  every  proof  as  an 
internal  one  which  is  gathered  from  within  the  limits  of  the 
Bible — then,  ere  we  quit  the  subject  of  the  internal  evidences, 
do  we  meet,  and  in  its  greatest  possible  strength,  with  that 
argument  which  is  founded  on  multiple  and  combined  testi- 
monies. In  the  volume  of  the  New  Testament  we  have, 
for  the  miracles  of  Christ,  the  express  depositions  of  no  less 
than  four  direct  and  formal  historians,  who  each  charges 
himself  with  the  task  of  narrating  the  life  and  doings  of  our 
Saviour,  and  who  each,  too,  in  his  own  person,  deserves  the 
utmost  confidence  of  his  readers,  both  for  his  opportunities 
of  information  and  for  a  perfect  integrity,  assured  to  us,  in 
that  age  of  persecution  and  most  cruel  sufferings  for  the 
faith,  by  the  highest  of  all  guarantees.  Each  writes  in  the 
manner,  and  fully  sustains  the  character,  of  an  independe-nt 
historian  ;  and  though  the  evangelist  Mark  most  probably 
availed  himself,  in  certain  of  his  passages,  of  the  previously 
written  gospel  by  Matthew,  yet  even  he,  it  is  obvious,  gives 
forth  his  statements  from  his  own  distinct  sources  of  in- 
formation. He,  it  is  understood,  drew  his  materinls  chiefly 
from  Peter,  whose  disciple  and  companion  he  was  ;  while 
Luke  compiled  his  narrative,  as  he  himself  informs  us,  from 
the  carefully  weighed  reports  of  those  who  companied  with 
our  Saviour  during  the  lime  of  His  abode  upon  earth. 


204  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

John  and  Matthew,  again,  were  the  eye-witnesses  through- 
out of  Christ's  personal  history  ;  so  that  in  the  gospels  alone 
we  have  four  separate  and  independent  narratives,  detail- 
ing either  what  the  authors  themselves  heard  and  saw,  or 
w4iat  they  were  informed  of  at  first  hand.  The  histories 
themselves  demonstrate  in  every  sentence  that  there  was  no 
partnership,  no  conjunct  or  preconcerted  movement  among 
the  authors.  Here,  then,  w^e  have  what  is  ever  esteemed  a 
first-rate  evidence  in  all  judgments  and  criticisms  on  com- 
mon history,  the  evidence  not  of  one,  but  of  four  professed 
and  formal  historians,  all  of  them  contemporary  with,  and 
one-half  of  them  the  personal  observers  of  the  events  which 
are  related  by  them ;  and  each  of  them  deponing  in  his  own 
name,  and  that  in  greatest  variety  and  abundance,  to  the 
miracles  of  the  gospel.  Let  it  be  recollected  that  these 
accounts  were  pubUshed  separately,  at  different  times  and 
on  different  occasions,  and  that  you  must  multiply  the  dis- 
tinct credibilities  of  these  individual  witnesses  into  each 
other,  in  order  to  obtain  the  immense  product  which  repre- 
sents the  whole  force  of  their  united  testimonies.  There  is 
nothing  that  can  at  all  compare  with  this  in  any  other  of  the 
narratives  of  ancient  history.  It  eludes  observation  now, 
because  these  separate  works  are  all  presented  to  us  in  one 
volume.  But  the  real  strength  of  the  argument  lies  in  the 
state  and  circumstances  of  the  evidence  then,  when  four 
different  men,  each  on  his  own  account,  publishes  his  own 
story,  and  gives  us  the  benefit  of  four  distinct  and  length- 
ened attestations,  laid  before  the  world  at  the  period,  too, 
of  its  fresh  recollections ;  and  when  the  eyes,  not  only  of 
thousands  of  friends,  suffering  for  their  convictions  on  the 
side  of  Christianity,  but  of  tens  of  thousands  of  enemies  still 
alive,  and  laboring  for  its  overthrow,  had  witnessed  a  num- 
ber of  the  scenes  and  passages  of  that  history,  which  now 
stood  forth  in  open  exposure  to  brave  all  the  contempt  and 
contradiction  which  so  many  vigilant  observers  might  have 
in  their  power  to  cast  upon  it.  We  repeat,  that  nothing 
like  this  can  be  said  of  any  narrative  which  has  come  down 
to  us  from  antiquity ;  and  when  we  speak  of  the  mighty 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  205 

accession  given  to  the  credibility  of  the  whole,  by  the  cir- 
cumstance of  there  being  four  nari^ators  instead  of  one — we 
ask,  in  the  name  of  common  sense,  why  the  presentation  of 
it  within  the  boards  of  one  volume  should  disguise  the 
strength  of  our  argument,  or  whether  it  be  in  the  power  of 
a  bookbinder  to  annihilate  this  evidence  ? 

9.  Let  me  now  remark  that  the  external  has  been  far 
more  completely  stated  and  philosophized  than  the  internal, 
and  that  the  latter  presents  a  much  larger  portion  of  terri- 
tory yet  unexplored  for  such  original  views  and  observations 
as  have  never  yet  been  given.  Understand  me  again,  how- 
ever, that  the  actual  operation  of  this  evidence  on  the 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  Scripture  readers,  even 
in  the  humblest  walks  of  society,  does  not  wait  the  reflex 
and  philosophical  exposition  of  it.  The  latter  may  not  be 
completed  for  centuries  to  come  ;  the  former  may  have 
been  going  on  most  healthfully  and  most  productively  from 
the  first  publication  of  the  various  pieces  which  make  up 
the  New^  Testament.  But  while  there  is  much  less  to  do  in 
the  explanation  of  the  external  than  of  the  internal  evidence, 
I  would  have  you  to  understand  that  even  the  former  is  not 
yet  exhausted.  As  far  back  as  thirty-two  years  ago,  I  was 
struck  with  the  imperfect  representation  given,  even  by 
such  writers  as  Lardner  and  Paley,  of  the  prodigious 
strength  of  the  historical  evidence  for  the  miracles  of  the 
gospel,  and  this  arising  from  their  postdating  of  the  argu- 
ment behind  the  time  of  the  original  writers ;  whereas  I 
think  it  can  be  satisfactorily  made  out,  on  the  clearest  prin- 
ciples, that  their  original  testimony  is  far  stronger  than  the 
tacit  testimony  of  the  Christian  Fathers — a  principle  this 
which  admits  of  being  further  extended,  so  as  to  prove  that 
the  testimony  of  the  Christian  Fathers  is,  on  every  received 
and  ordinary  principle  of  criticism,  far  stronger  than  that 
of  either  the  Jewish  or  heathen  authors  of  the  three  first 
centuries.  There  is  a  strange  delusion  on  this  subject, 
which,  if  but  exposed  and  broken  up,  would  make  such 
commonplace  infidelity,  for  example,  as  that  of  Gibbon, 
perfectly  innocuous,  for  he  never  once  grapples  with  the 


206  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

testimony  of  Christians,  either  of  the  apostolic  or  succeeding 
ages.  Now,  to  get  the  better  of  this  strano^e  yet  strong 
delusion,  let  me  make  the  supposition  that  Mark's  gospel 
had  not  been  admitted  into  the  canon  of  Scripture;  but 
that,  instead  of  this,  it  had  come  down  to  us  as  the  earliest, 
and  so  taking  the  lead,  in  point  of  time,  of  all  the  composi- 
tions of  the  Christian  Fathers.  He  would  in  this  case  have 
stood  distinctly  out  from  the  Bible,  and  appeared  to  us  in 
the  hght  of  a  very  full  and  explicit  and  articulate  witness 
in  favor  of  the  miraculous  events  recorded  there.  Instead 
of  Mark  the  Evangelist,  he  would  have  come  down  to  us  as 
Mark  one  of  the  Christian  Fathers  ;  and  this  additional  tes- 
timony to  that  of  the  Bible  writers  would  have  blazoned 
forth  to  a  hundred-fold  greater  extent  than  it  actually  has 
done,  both  in  Lardner's  "  Credibility"  and  in  the  books  gen- 
erally on  the  Christian  evidences.  Such  would  have  been 
the  influence  of  this  his  recorded  testimony  in  point  of  feel- 
ing. Now,  let  us  make  a  right  and  rational  computation 
of  its  real  value  in  point  of  fact.  The  comparison,  3^ou  will 
perceive,  is  betw^een  Mark's  gospel,  as  forming  a  part  of 
Scripture,  and  stitched  up  there  with  the  other  pieces  of 
the  sacred  volume,  and  Mark's  gospel,  as  handed  down  to 
us  apart  from  Scripture,  and  in  the  same  shape  with  a 
Clement's  Epistle  or  a  Justin  Martyr's  Apology,  carried 
forward  along  the  stream  of  ages  as  a  separate  publication. 
We  know  well  the  difference  which  this  would  make  in 
point  of  impression.  In  the  former  situation — that  is,  in  the 
Bible — he  forms  part  of  a  book,  the  whole  of  which  is  under 
trial,  so  that  the  whole  Bible,  and  he  among  the  rest,  stands 
forth  as  a  panel  at  the  bar;  whereas  in  the  latter  situation, 
or  among  the  Christian  Fathers,  he  would  have  stood  forth 
as  an  evidence  in  the  witness-box.  Such  is  the  impression; 
but  put  forth  attention.  I  pray  you,  and  look  at  the  reality. 
What  is  it  that  has  given  Mark  the  rank  of  a  scriptural 
writer? — what  is  it  that  secured  for  him  a  place  in  the 
canon  ?  The  universal  consent  of  the  Christians  in  that 
age  that  he  w^as  altogether  worthy  of  a  place  in  it.  And, 
truly  astonishing  result,  it  is  because  the  men  of  his  own 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  207 

time  thought  so  highly  of  him,  that  we  of  the  present  day 
think  so  poorly  of  him.  On  the  other  hand,  what  is  the 
circumstance  that  would  have  kept  Mark  out  of  the  Bible? 
— that  would  have  made  him  an  exscriptural  instead  of  a 
scriptural,  an  uncanonical  instead  of  a  canonical  writer; 
Just  the  inferior  credit  he  held  among  his  contemporaries 
— ^just  because  of  his  lower  estimation  then  than  either 
Matthew  or  Luke  or  John  ;  and  so  another  repetition  of  the 
wonder,  of  the  downright  oddity — nay,  if  you  call  it  ab- 
surdity, you  will  not  be  far  wrong — the  marvel  and  the 
mystery  is,  that  had  he  been  so  little  thought  of  in  his  own 
day  as  to  have  been  left  out  of  Scripture,  he  would  on  that 
very  account  have  been  all  the  better  thought  of  in  our  day. 
I  will  venture  to  say  that  our  treatment  of  any  other  ancient 
profane  authors  whom  we  esteem  and  have  confidence  in, 
is  not  only  different  from  this,  but  diametrically  the  reverse 
of  this;  and  that  in  very  proportion  to  the  credit  which 
they  enjoyed  then  with  their  contemporaries,  is  the  credit 
w^hich  they  enjoy  now  with  us,  their  distant  posterity.  Such 
is  the  rule  of  sound  criticism  in  all  other  cases ;  and  is  it 
not  passing  strange  that  only  when  the  Bible  is  under  reck- 
oning and  suspicion,  is  it  turned  into  the  rule  of  contraries  ? 
What  I  want  is,  that  on  this  question  the  scales  should  fall 
from  your  eyes.  Mark  was  adjudged  a  place  in  the  Bible 
by  a  public  in  those  days,  whose  cruel  martyrdoms  for  the 
truth  form  the  highest  possible  guarantees  that  they  had  no 
interest  in  being  deceived  ;  but  that  all  possible  care  and 
vigilance  would  be  put  forth,  lest  the  sufferings  they  must 
have  been  glad  to  escape  from,  had  conscience  let  them, 
should  be  incurred  in  support  of  a  falsehood.  The  gospel 
according  to  Mark  took  rank  with  the  other  three,  because 
as  good  as  if — written  by  an  apostle — it  had  been  the  gos- 
pel according  to  Peter,  and  Mark  had  been  his  amanuensis. 
The  real  weight  of  his  evidence,  whatever  the  feeling  or  the 
fancymay  be,  is  vastly  greater  because  his  place  is  within  and 
not  without  the  sacred  confines  of  Holy  Writ;  and,  in  the 
concurrence  of  these  four  disciples,  I  call  on  you  to  recognize 
the  concurrence  of  four  first-rate  and  superlative  testimonies. 


203  LNSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

10.  We  know  that  there  was  a  number  of  exscriptural 
memoirs  of  our  Saviour  in  circulation  among  His  disciples 
after  His  death.  To  these  Luke  refers  in  the  introduction 
of  his  gospel ;  and  what  was  it  that  led  him  to  undertake 
this  work? — just  the  imperfection  of  these  memoirs,  which 
left  a  fuller  and  more  authentic  narrative  of  the  doings  and 
discourses  of  oar  Saviour  a  desideratum  with  the  Christian 
public  of  those  days.  Accordingly  the  gospel  by  Luke  was 
published ;  and,  as  the  natural  effect  of  this,  these  eariier 
memoirs  were  all  of  them  superseded.  They  ceased  to  be 
in  demand,  just  as  any  fragment  or  imperfect  narrative  now 
would  be  no  longer  sought  after,  if  a  complete  and  authori- 
tative history,  which  everybody  confided  in,  and  which 
gave  all  the  information  that  was  wanted,  should  be  brought 
forward  to  supplement  their  deficiencies  and  occupy  their 
place.  In  those  days  of  laborious  book-making,  when  all 
that  was  done  in  that  way  was  done  by  an  operose  process 
of  transcription,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  these  memoirs 
would  continue  to  be  multiplied  after  they  had  become  a 
drug  in  the  market  by  the  general  run  being  directed  to 
better  and  fuller  narratives.  Such  was  the  state  of  matters 
then ;  and  it  is  at  once  decisive  of  the  greater  value  of 
Luke's  history,  as  evidence  for  the  truth  of  the  gospel  mir- 
acles, than  of  all  these  written  accounts  which  were  current 
at  the  time  of  his  publication,  but  which  disappeared  before 
it,  because  driven  from  the  field.  And  yet,  in  defiance  of 
all  the  ordinary  and  received  principles  of  criticism,  this 
just  judgment  on  the  part  of  Luke's  contemporaries  is  not 
ratified  but  reversed  by  the  judgment  of  the  men  of  the 
present  day.  Suppose  that  by  any  accident  we  should 
light  on  one  of  these  memoirs,  with  such  signatures  of  gen- 
uineness as  convinced  us  that  it  had  been  in  circulation 
previous  to  his  gospel,  and  just  such  a  one  as  he  has  referred 
to  at  the  outset  of  his  own  history — how  enlightened  and 
enlarged  we  should  all  feel  at  the  discovery,  and  speak  of 
our  new  found  treasure  as  a  mighty  accession  to  the  histor- 
ical evidence  for  the  truth  of  Christianity.  Does  it  not 
mark  a  strange  insensibility  to  the  hundred-fold  greater 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  209 

evidence  that  we  have  in  our  possession,  which  not  only 
does  not  quell  our  appetite  for  more,  but  leaves  an  appetite 
of  a  truly  niorbid  and  marvelous  description — an  appetite 
infinitely  more  regaled  with  the  crumbs  and  fragments  that 
are  about  the  table  than  with  the  rich  and  solid  viands 
wherewith  the  table  itself  is  so  sumptuously  laden.  A  very 
brief  notice  by  Quadratus  lights  up  a  greater  sense  of  suf- 
ficiency than  all  that  Matthew  and  Mark  and  Luke  and 
John  set  before  us.  Now  this  note  by  Quadratus  is  but  of 
one  or  two  of  the  many  miracles  recorded  in  Scripture ; 
and  probably,  made  up  as  it  is  of  a  single  paragraph,  bears 
a  very  small  proportion,  in  variety  and  fullness  of  information, 
to  each  of  the  memoirs  which  Luke  takes  notice  of.  Now 
if  these,  in  existence  before  Luke  wrote,  were  of  so  little 
comparative  value  that  he  superseded  them — why  should  a 
thing  of  less  value  than  these  be  looked  upon  as  of  any 
great  weight  and  importance  in  the  way  of  supplementing 
Luke?  It  is  well  that  we  have  this  testimony  of  Quadratus; 
nor  do  I  wonder  that  Paley,  in  adverting  to  it,  should  char- 
acterize it  as  a  noble  testimony.  But  let  us  not  forget  the 
hundred-fold  nobler  testimony  of  Luke  himself,  nor,  in  our 
diseased  appetency  for  evidence  of  greatly  less  validity,  and 
a  craving  for  more  of  the  same  sort,  shut  our  eyes  to  the 
greatly  surpassing  worth  of  an  evidence  anterior  to  Qua- 
dratus ;  and,  on  every  sound  principle  of  historic  faith,  all 
the  more  to  be  depended  on,  that  Luke  was  contemporary 
with  the  events  which  he  relates,  and  met  with  the  un- 
bounded confidence  of  the  contemporary  Christian  public 
for  whom  he  writes — whereas  Quadratus  flourished  half  a 
century  after  him.  I  feel  persuaded,  both  of  Dr.  Lardner 
and  Dr.  Paley,  that  even  they,  when  looking  at  this  testi- 
mony, did  mentally  place  Luke  at  the  bar,  and  Quadratus 
in  the  witness-box. 

U.  But  more  than  this,  we  have  not  only  five  direct  his- 
torical compositions  in  the  New  Testament,  the  four  Gospels, 
and  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  all  teeming  with  accounts  of 
miracles — we  have  twenty-two  writings  over  and  above, 
the  works  of  four  additional  authors,  that  is,  Paul  and  James 


210  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  Peter  and  Jude.  None  of  them  attempt  aught  Hke  a 
direct  narrative  of  the  life  of  our  Saviour,  or  the  doings  of 
His  apostles.  There  was  a  limit  to  the  number  of  these, 
beyond  which  there  could  be  no  further  demand  for  any 
more.  In  that  age  of  busy  action,  when  all  were  so  much 
occupied  with  the  direct  work  of  propagating  the  gospel, 
there  would  be  little  leisure  for  authorship — though,  of 
course,  we  must  lay  our  account  with  as  much  as  would 
be  required  by  the  exigencies  of  the  times.  There  might 
be  a  call  for  a  certain  number  of  gospels,  yet  none  beyond 
this.  The  Gospel  by  Matthew  is  understood  to  have  been 
written  for  the  use  of  Jewish  Christians.  Paul  and  Peter 
had  their  distinct  fields  of  labor;  and  we  might  well  imag- 
ine, that,  for  the  supply  of  the  churches  within  their  re- 
spective spheres,  Luke,  the  companion  of  the  one,  and 
Mark,  the  intimate  friend  and  disciple  of  the  other,  felt  a 
practical  necessity,  or  at  least  desirableness,  for  their  several 
histories  being  penned,  while,  as  is  well  know^n,  the  Gospel 
of  John  was  published  a  good  many  years  after  the  three 
others,  and  expressly  written  by  him  for  the  purpose  of 
supplementing  much  of  what  they  had  omitted  in  the  prep- 
aration of  their  narratives.  If  it  be  asked,  why,  after  this 
have  we  no  gospels  by  others  of  the  New  Testament  writers? 
it  might  be  remarked,  in  the  first  place,  that  Paul  and  Peter 
may  be  said  to  have  both  acquitted  themselves  of  these 
tasks,  by  the  hands  of  their  literary  companions,  Luke  and 
Mark  ;  and  as  to  James  and  Jude,  there  might  be  a  very 
good  reason  for  their  not  engaging'  in  this  work,  because 
for  every  useful  and  necessary  purpose  the  work  was 
ab'eady  done,  and  the  demand  of  the  Christian  world  for 
these  histories  had  now  been  met  and  satisfied.  The  want 
was  already  filled  up;  and  that  was  not  a  period  for  the 
labors  of  the  pen  beyond  what  the  real  exigencies  of  the 
Church  required.  That  was  truly  not  the  age  or  the  occa- 
sion in  which  a  superfluous  and  unnecessary  authorship 
could  be  at  all  looked  for. 

12.  Still  we  have  other  and  additional  authorship  within 
the  limits  of  the  New  Testament,  in  the  shape  of  fourteen 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY,  211 

Epistles  by  Paul,  one  by  James,  two  by  Peter,  one  by  Jude, 
three  by  the  apostle  John,  and  lastly,  his  book  of  Revelation, 
In  none  of  them  do  the  authors  set  themselves  to  the  work 
of  a  continuous  narrative  of  miracles.  With  the  exception 
of  the  book  of  Revelation,  which  was  a  prophecy,  the  object 
of  all  these  other  writings  was  moral,  or  didactic,  or  horta- 
tory, and  not  historical — a  service  accomplished  otherwise, 
and  which  could  not  be  attempted  any  more,  without  such 
a  vain  and  useless  repetition  as  there  really  was  no  time 
for.  But  they  behoved  to  find  time  for  such  other  compo- 
sitions as  the  state  and  the  emergencies  of  any  particular 
churches  might  have  required;  and  none  more  likely  than 
letters,  whether  to  particular  congregations  or  to  the  general 
body  of  Christians,  by  the  apostles,  who  had  either  formed 
these  congregations,  or  were  men  of  universally  known 
character  and  weight  among  the  disciples  at  large.  Now 
let  it  well  be  observed,  that  though  in  these  compositions 
there  be  no  formal  history  of  the  miracles,  yet  that  we  can 
gather  from  them  a  various  and  multiple  evidence  of  their 
reality,  and  that  in  a  still  more  impressive  and  satisfactory 
form  than  if  fully  and  formally  announced  to  us.  There  is 
no  labored  attempt  to  prove  them,  far  less  is  there  any 
•parading  about  them.  But  what  is  greatly  better  in  the 
way  of  evidence — if  not  proved,  they  are  assumed  and  pro- 
ceeded on,  and  are  often  the  topics  of  incidental,  yet  of  the 
most  perfectly  free  and  fearless  allusion,  as  if  the  objects  of 
a  universal  and  common  recognition  by  both  parties  in  the 
correspondence — as  when  Paul  in  the  Romans  speaks  of 
Christ  being  raised  for  our  justification  ;  and  so,  in  the 
course  of  his  doctrinal  argument,  confirms  the  great  master 
miracle  of  the  New  Testament;  or  when  he  tells  the  Co- 
rinthians of  the  vSaviour  having  been  seen  to  ascend  up  into 
heaven,  and  speaks  of  His  resurrection  in  proof  of  the  gen- 
eral rising  of  all  men  from  the  dead  ;  or  when  he  instructs 
the  same  people  hov^'  to  use  their  miraculous  gifts,  and  in 
vindication  of  his  own  authority  as  an  apostle,  appeals  to 
the  signs  and  miracles  which  he  had  wrought  among  them ; 
or,  as  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  when  boldly  reproving 


212  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

them  for  their  errors,  and  pleading  for  ttie  all-sufficiency 
of  faith,  he  puts  the  question,  He  that  worketh  miracles 
amongst  you,  did  he  it  by  the  works  of  the  law  or  by  the 
hearing  of  faith  ?  And  not  to  swell  the  number,  as  Peter, 
when  he  reports  the  miracle  of  Christ's  transfiguration,  and 
the  voice  from  heaven  which  he  himself  heard,  of  this  being 
His  beloved  Son,  in  whom  He  was  well  pleased.  Let  it 
well  be  remarked,  however,  that  in  all  those  New  Testament 
compositions  w^hich  are  not  historical,  these  references  to 
the  miracles  form  but  a  very  minute  fraction  of  the  bulk 
and  body  of  the  writings  ;  and  that  in  some  of  them  we  do 
not  recollect  any  allusion  to  the  miracles  at  all — as  in  the 
second  Epistle  "to  the  Thessalonians,  the  Epistles  to  Titus 
and  Philemon,  the  three  Epistles  of  John,  and  lastly,  the 
Epistle  of  Jude.  It  is  well  that  you  bear  this  in  mind,  when 
we  pass  from  the  scriptural  to  the  exscriptural,  in  our  ex- 
amination of  the  documents  of  Christian  antiquity. 

13.  Nothing,  however,  can  be  more  confirmatory  than 
the  perfect  understanding  of  the  truth  of  these  miracles  in 
the  first  age  of  Christianity,  shared  between  the  writers  of 
these  various  apostolic  letters  in  which  they  are  adverted 
to,  and  the  parties  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  They 
give  a  mighty  addition  to  the  more  direct  evidence  of  the 
four  Gospels  and  history  of  the  Acts ;  and  let  not  the  cir- 
cumstance of  their  being  bound  up  together  in  one  volume 
throw  disguise  over  the  strength  of  the  multiform,  and 
recollect,  too,  contemporaneous  testimony,  which  is  yielded 
by  them  for  the  divine  commission  of  Christ  and  His 
apostles.* 

■*  The  supei-ior  claims  of  the  canonical  writers  gave  them  their  place  in 
Scripture,  and  the  superior  estimation  in  which  they  were  held  by  their  co- 
temporaries  turned  the  demand  of  the  public  from  the  uncanonical,  most  of 
whom  ultimately  disappeared,  and  the  rest  have  been  transmitted  to  the 
present  time  with  a  vastly  inferior  weight  of  testimony  in  their  favor  than 
can  be  adduced  on  behalf  of  the  authors  of  the  New  Testament. — Luke  i. 
1-4;  Acts  i.  1,  2;  Rom.  i.  4-11;  xv.  18,  19;  1  Cor.  xii.  4.  7-11;  xiii.  i  ; 
xiv.  5,  6,  22-25  ;  xv.  4,  8,  12-17  ;  2  Cor.  xii.  12  ;  Gal.  ii.  5;  Eph.  i.  20  ;  iv. 
8-10;  Phil.  ii.  9-11;  Col.  ii.  12;  1  Thess.  iv.  14;  1  Tim.  iii.  16;  2  Tim.  ii.  8; 
Heb.  iv.  14;  vi.  20;  ix.  24;  xi.  13;  xii.  2;  xiii.  20;  James  v.  14,  15;  1  Pet. 
1.  3,  4,  21  ;  iii.  22;  2  Pet.  i.  16-18;  Rev.  J.  18;  ii.  8. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ON"  THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORICAL   EVIDENCE  FOR  THE  TRUTH 
OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

1.  It  is  a  very  general  apprehension  among  writers  on 
the  evidences  of  Christianity,  that,  ere  they  can  reach  an 
external  evidence,  they  must  go  forth  of  the  Bible,  and 
seek  after  the  corroboration  of  its  recorded  facts  among 
exscriptural  authors.  I  trust  I  have  proved  to  your  satis- 
faction, that  before  v^^e  go  forth  of  the  Bible  we  come  into 
contact  with  the  very  kind  of  evidence  which  these  writers 
are  in  quest  of,  and  differing  from  it  only  in  this,  that  it  is 
immeasurably  greater  in  degree,  inasmuch  as  the  testimony 
of  accepted  contemporary  authors,  who  were  either  the 
eye-witnesses  or  ear-witnesses  by  but  one  remove  of  the 
events  related  by  them,  is  of  far  greater  historical  value  than 
the  testimony  either  of  subsequent  authors,  or  of  those 
whose  only  information  is  but  that  of  a  vague  and  distant 
hearsay.  This  better  and  higher  evidence  has  been  much 
overlooked  by  inquirers,  and  that  chiefly,  I  believe,  from 
the  circumstance  of  its  all  being  presented  to  us  within 
the  limits  of  one  volume.  Nevertheless,  the  state  of  the 
matter  stands  thus — that  we  have  the  concurrence  of  no 
less  than  four  very  particular  and  distinct  narratives,  by 
men  writing  independently  of  each  other,  and  all  of  first- 
rate  credit  and  acceptance  in  their  day,  and  no  less  than 
twenty-one  epistles,  the  greater  number  by  four  additional 
writers,  on  whom  the  Christian  public  in  the  middle  of  the 
first  century,  or  a  few  years  after  the  death  of  the  Saviour, 
placed  an  equal  and  a  most  implicit  reliance.  These  letters 
abound  in  expressions  which  imply  a  full  belief  on  the  part 
of  their  authors  in  the  miraculous  origin  of  Christianity  ; 
and  more  especially  in  that  most  stupendous  of  all  its  mira- 
cles, the  resurrection  of  our  Saviour,  and  which  also  imply 
a  like  belief  on  the  part  of  numerous  Christian  societies 


214  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

consisting  of  many  hundreds  and  thousands  to  whom  they 
address  themselves.  There  is  nothing  hke  the  tenth  or 
twentieth  part  of  this  initial  light,  if  it  may  be  so  termed,  to 
irradiate  the  outset  of  any  other  ancient  history  that  has 
come  down  to  us  from  past  ages. 

2.  But  before  entering  on  the  consideration  of  the  subse- 
quent testimonies,  it  is  well  that  you  look  to  the  sort  of  ref- 
erences made  to  the  miracles  of  the  gospel  in  those  works 
of  the  New  Testament  which  are  not  historical — as  this  may 
warn  you  what  kind  of  references  you  are  to  look  for  in  the 
writings  of  the  Christian  Fathers.  The  four  apostles,  Paul, 
and  Peter,  and  James,  and  Jude,  who  have  bequeathed  to 
us  epistles  and  nothing  else,  did  not  feel  themselves  called 
upon  to  construct  any  lengthened  or  continuous  narratives 
of  the  life  of  our  Saviour,  on  the  ground,  we  have  no  doubt, 
that  this  service  was  already  accomplished,  and  therefore 
when  they  make  allusion  to  the  miracles  at  all,  it  is  but 
incidentally,  or  as  it  comes  in  their  way,  and  serves  the 
purpose  of  enforcing  their  exhortation  or  confirming  their 
argument.  Now,  if  these  apostles,  so  well  qualified  for  the 
task,  had  the  good  of  the  Christian  Church  required  it,  did 
not  feel  themselves  called  upon  to  give  a  formal  history  of 
Christ  and  of  His  doings,  or,  in  other  words,  to  add  a  fifth 
gospel  to  the  four  already  in  existence,  much  less  would 
the  Christian  Fathers,  either  of  that  or  of  any  succeeding 
age,  feel  themselves  so  called  upon — as  in  their  hands  it 
would  have  been  still  more  a  work  of  supererogation,  and 
never  could  have  been  the  object  of  a  general  demand,  be- 
cause never  the  object  of  the  same  confidence  and  esteem 
as  the  gospels  already  extant,  and  which  were  either  writ- 
ten by  apostles,  or  had  the  benefit  of  known  apostolic  rec- 
ommendation. But  if  we  need  not  look  for  such  histories 
from  any  of  the  earlier  Christian  Fathers,  what  sort  of 
works  would  we  naturally  expect  from  them?  Just  the 
very  works  which  we  find  them  to  have  written — letters  to 
particular  churches,  either  for  the  correction  of  abuses,  or 
for  the  encouragement  of  disciples  in  the  faith — writings  of 
an  argumentative  and  hortatory,  rather  than  of  an  histor- 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  215 

ical  character — remonstrances  addressed  to  their  persecut- 
ors, whether  among  the  Jews  or  Gentiles.  In  short,  such 
publications  as  were  called  forth  by  the  exigencies  of  the 
time — works  of  reproof  and  doctrine  and  practical  piety 
for  those  within  the  pale  of  Christianity — works  of  advoca- 
cy, when  either  infidelity  or  persecution  called  them  forth 
to  a  vindication  of  their  character  and  views.  In  the  most 
of  such  works  we  should  just  look  for  the  very  kind  of  refer- 
ences to  the  miracles  of  the  gospel  that  we  meet  with  in  the 
epistles  of  the  New  Testament ;  and  if  we  find  these  refer- 
ences made  freely  and  fearlessly  and  without  reserve, 
whenever  the  occasion  seemed  to  require  it — if  we  find  no 
symptoms  either  of  a  wish  to  parade  the  miracles,  on  the 
one  hand,  as  if  not  already  sufficiently  known  and  believed 
of  all  men  acquainted  with  the  truth;  or  of  a  wish  to  dis- 
guise them,  as  if  tremulous  of  an  exposure  that  would  bring 
upon  them  the  detection  of  a  foul  and  artful  imposture— if 
we  find  them  spoken  of  in  fit  season,  but  always  in  such  a 
way  as  to  imply  that  they  were  the  objects  of  a  common 
recognition  between  the  writers  and  the  Christian  public 
whom  they  were  addressing,  as  things  of  which  there  was 
no  doubt,  and  in  the  mention  of  which,  therefore,  they  fal- 
tered not  and  felt  no  hesitation — I  cannot  imagine  a  more 
perfect  form  than  this  for  the  purpose  of  corroboration ; 
and  it  will  ever  abide  a  standing  memorial  for  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  that  the  miracles  by  which  it  was  ushered  into 
the  world,  and  on  which  it  claimed  the  acceptance  of  men, 
are  in  the  writings  of  the  Christian  Fathers,  from  the  very 
earliest  times,  as  currently  spoken  of  and  referred  to  as  real 
events  as  any  of  the  best  known  and  most  generally  be- 
lieved occurrences  in  the  history  of  the  period. 

3.  But  there  is  one  important  diflJerence  between  the 
contemporary  epistles  in  the  New  Testament,  and  the  sub- 
sequent epistles  in  other  works  of  the  Christian  Fathers. 
In  the  former  there  is  no  reference  either  to  the  Acts  or 
the  Gospels,  unless  any  will  regard  2  Cor.  viii.  18,  as  a 
reference  by  Paul  to  the  Gospel  of  Luke.  There  scarcely 
could  be  any  such  reference — for  some  of  the  epistles  were 


216  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

among  the  earliest  pieces  of  the  New  Testament  which 
had  made  their  appearance,  and  could  not  therefore  refer 
to  works  not  yet  published,  and,  what  perhaps  might  re- 
quire several  years  more,  not  yet  fully  circulated  and 
known.  And  what  is  more — each  of  the  New  Testament 
writers,  speaking  in  his  own  name  and  of  his  own  conscious 
or  assumed  authority,  as  an  inspired  man,  would  not  feel 
the  necessity  of  fortifying  or  building  up  his  argument  on 
the  foundation  of  what  others  had  said  before — setting 
himself  forth  in  the  direct  character  of  a  messenger  from 
heaven,  and  whose  only  concern,  therefore,  was  the  delivery 
of  that  message.  But  mark  how  differently  related  the 
Christian  Fathers  stood  to  the  compositions  of  the  New 
Testament,  in  not  only  being  subsequent  to  these  but  prin- 
cipally in  that  they  did  feel  themselves  to  be  of  a  lower 
grade,  and  the  scriptural  authors  to  be  set  on  the  higher 
platform,  both  of  being  actually  in  themselves,  and  of  being 
looked  up  to  by  the  Christian  public  at  large,  as  inspired 
writers  and  direct  messengers  from  heaven.  What  else 
could  we  expect  in  these  circumstances  than  incessant  ap- 
peals to  the  various  works  and  writings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment by  the  Christian  Fathers,  and  that  for  the  purpose  of 
finding  acceptance  with  their  readers  for  their  own  views, 
and  strengthening  thereby  their  own  cause  and  argument, 
whatever  that  may  be?  Now  this  is  precisely  what  we 
find.  Over  and  above  some  such  immediate  references  to 
the  miracles  of  Christ  and  His  apostles,  as  we  meet  with 
in  the  epistles  of  the  New  Testament,  we  have  constant  al- 
lusions and  references  of  all  sorts,  both  express  and  implied, 
to  the  sacred  writings  themselves,  and  that  in  terms  which 
demonstrate  the  utmost  confidence  and  respect  on  the  part 
of  these  Fathers  as  well  as  the  high  standing  in  the  Chris- 
tian world  of  the  works  from  which  they  quote.  Now 
mark  the  big,  the  mighty  importance  of  such  testimonies  as 
these.  Even  though  the  Fathers  had  never  deponed  in 
their  own  persons  to  the  miracles  of  the  Gospel,  which  they 
very  frequently  do,  these  references,  and  in  terms  of  such 
high  veneration,  to  the  books  in  which  the  miracles  are 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  217 

recorded,  would  of  theaiselTes  have  formed  a  most  ample 
and  sufficient  testimony.  When  you  quote  from  a  book  in 
such  a  v^^ay  as  to  mark  your  sense  of  its  authority,  you  may 
be  said  to  homologate  that  book,  and  to  stamp  all  the  credit 
which  attaches  to  your  own  name  on  the  various  contents 
of  it.  Now,  we  repeat  that  this  has  been  done  for  the  New 
Testament  by  the  Christian  Fathers,  in  the  utmost  abun- 
dance and  the  greatest  variety  of  forms.  Descending  from 
the  age  of  the  apostles  themselves,  you  pass  downward, 
with  all  the  force  and  fullness  of  an  increasing  river,  along 
the  course  of  succeeding  centuries.  It  is  of  these  that 
Lardner  has  made  so  laborious  and  ample  a  collection ; 
and  they  may  be  said  to  form  the  main  strength  of  the  ex- 
scriptural  historical  evidc^nce  for  the  truth  of  Christianity. 
They  consist  of  a  series  of  references  and  quotations  gath- 
ered from  the  Christian  Fathers,  each  marking  the  credit 
and  confidence  in  which  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
were  held  by  themselves — sufficiently  expressive,  therefore, 
of  their  testimony  to  the  facts  recorded  in  the  evangelical 
writings,  whether  they  bad  in  their  own  person  noticed 
these  facts  or  not.  The  writer  subsequent  to  Julius  Caesar 
who  quotes  him,  a^d  gives  proof  of  his  faith  in  him,  as  a 
good  and  crediNe  historian,  gives  what  may  be  termed  a 
wholesale  testimony  for  the  history  by  Caesar,  whether  he 
condescenr^i^  or  not  on  any  of  the  events  in  that  history.  It 
is  mainlj  on  the  strength  of  such  testimonies  as  these,  that 
in  profane  history,  the  later  authors  serve  to  uphold  the 
credit  of  the  older  ones — not  by  telling  us  all  their  informa- 
tions and  sayings  over  again,  but  by  making  it  known  to 
their  own  public  and  to  posterity,  that  they  held  them  to 
be  good  and  credible  informers.  Of  this  sort  of  evidence, 
then,  the  evidence  of  such  subsequent  testimonies  as  we 
have  now  been  setting  forth  to  you,  there  is  a  tenfold 
greater  force  and  frequency  for  the  New  Testament  writers 
than  for  any  other  of  equal  or  higher  antiquity  that  can  be 
named.  We  can  adduce  nothing  like  it  for  Herodotus,  or 
Thucydides,  or  Xenophon,  or  Cicero,  or  Livy,  or  Tacitus ; 
and  on  what  principle  these  should  be  the  object  of  a  trust 

VOL-  VIL  — K 


218  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  a  deference  well-nigh  universal,  while  apostles  and 
evangelists  are  the  objects  of  suspicion,  if  not  of  scorn,  is 
one  of  those  paradoxes  of  infidelity,  which  I  should  like  any 
of  its  champions  to  explain,  and  which,  till  explained,  must 
ever  remind  me  of  such  expressions  as  "  the  mystery  of 
iniquity,"  "  the  love  of  darkness  rather  than  light,"  "  the 
strong  delusion,"  to  which  men  are  given  over,  so  as  that 
they  shall  repudiate  the  truth  and  believe  a  lie. 

4.  And  there  is  one  remark  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  you  should  attend  to  and  appreciate,  as  you  will  find 
in  it  a  most  unequivocal  proof  of  the  veneration  and  con- 
fidence in  which  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  were 
held  from  the  very  first,  and  throughout  all  the  succeeding 
ages  of  Christian  antiquity.  What  I  mean  is,  the  appro- 
priate and  special  designation  given  by  the  Jews,  in  the 
days  of  the  Saviour,  to  their  Scriptures,  and  which  desig- 
nation from  the  very  outset  was  also  given  to  the  Christian 
Scriptures — from  the  moment  they  were  published,  or  at 
least  from  the  moment  they  were  known  to  have  come 
forth  either  from  the  hands  or  under  the  sanction  of  the 
apostles.  You  are  aware  that  wh^t  originally  was  the 
common  designation,  expressive  of  all  the  individuals  of  a 
particular  class,  when  once  applied,  and  more  especially 
with  the  definite  article,  to  some  one  seleei  and  peculiar 
individual  of  that  class — comes  at  length  to  be.  restricted 
to  that  individual,  and  applied  to  none  others  of  tke  genus 
to  which  it  belongs.  Take  baptism  for  an  example.  It 
signifies  generally  an  immersion,  of  whatever  kind,  and 
done  on  whatever  occasion.  But  when  this  name  was 
employed  to  designate  the  great  initiatory  rite  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  more  especially  when  the  habit  was 
firmly  established  of  speaking  of  this  rite  as  6  (3a7rTiaiLiog, 
this  term  however  wide  and  various  the  application  of  it 
may  have  previously  been,  never  suggested  the  idea  of 
_any  other  dipping  than  that  which  took  place  at  the  minis- 
tration of  this  sacrament.  The  same  thing  applies  to  the 
word  ypacbai,  which  originally  denoted  writings — any  writ- 
ings—and might  have  been  applied  indiscriminately  to  all 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  219 

the  products  of  human  authorship.  But  this  term  was  at 
length  employed  to  designate  certain  writings  which  were 
reputed  to  be  of  Divine  authorship  ;  and  after  the  fashion 
became  common,  more  particularly  with  the  prefixing  of 
the  definite  article,  so  that  the  at  ypa^ai  were  spoken  of — 
no  one,  whether  speaker  or  hearer,  ever  understood  the 
is  term  in  any  other  sense,  than  the  collection  of  writings 
held  among  the  Jews  to  be  sacred,  and  of  Divine  inspira- 
tion. There  is  nothing  to  surprise  one  in  this — for  what  is 
(ii^Xog  but  a  book?  or  the  Greek  name  applied  at  the  first 
to  all  books,  but  afterwards  restricted  to  the  sacred  vol- 
ume which  was  denominated  6  (3i(3Xog ;  and  which  men  no 
more  confounded  with  other  books,  than  we  of  the  present 
day  would  confound  the  Bible,  or  have  our  attention  car- 
ried oflf  by  this  title  from  that  one  book,  to  any  other  in 
the  whole  range  of  authorship.  The  same  observation 
true  of  the  Scriptures,  which  word,  in  its  generic  and 
original  sense,  means  the  writings — but  which  is  applied, 
in  a  sense  altogether  select  and  discriminative,  to  the  sacred 
writings  alone.  And  thus  you  will  understand  that  at  ypa- 
(pac  in  those  days  formed  just  as  special  and  distinguish- 
ing a  title  for  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  Bible  or  the 
Scriptures  do  now-a-days  for  the  whole  collection,  embrac- 
ing both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament.— Mark  xv.  28; 
John  X.  35 ;  Rom.  iv.  3 :  Matth.  xxi.  42 ;  Acts  xvii.  2 ; 
Rom.  XV.  4;  2  Tim.  iii.  16. 

5.  Corresponding  to  this  remark,  there  is  another,  which 
if  taken  along  with  you,  will  form  a  complete  preparation 
for  the  examination  of  the  Christian  Fathers,  with  a  view  . 
to  ascertain  the  degree  of  respect  in  which  the  writings  of 
the  New  Testament  were  held  by  them.  We  find  quota- 
tions often  ushered  in  with  the  phrase,  "  as  it  is  written." 
Now,  looking  to  this  in  all  its  nakedness  and  generality,  it 
might  be  a  quotation  from  any  or  every  author  who  can 
be  named.  But  after  it  came  to  be  generally  used  in  quot- 
ing from  the  sacred  volume,  it  is  now  the  invariable  sym- 
bol of  a  quotation  from  that  volume,  and  from  it  only.  Of 
this  there  are  manifold  examples  both  in  the  Old  and  New 


220  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

Testament.     Let  me  give  a  few  specimens  from  the  latter 
— John  vi.  31 ;  Rom.  iii.  10 ;  2  Cor.  iv.  13. 

6.  We  see  then  how  the  Old  Testament  was  referred  to 
by  those  who  believed  in  its  divinity — thus  referred  to  by 
the  Jews,  for  example,  who  ascribe  this  high  character  to 
the  Old  Testament,  and  to  it  only.  Let  us  see  if  both  the 
Old  and  New  Testament  are  referred  to  in  the  same  man- 
ner by  the  Christian  Fathers — for  if  so,  it  will  form  a  com- 
plete demonstration,  that  by  them  the  same  high  character 
was  ascribed  to  both.  But  previous  to  this  let  me  remark, 
that  before  entering  upon  the  examination  of  the  Christian 
Fathers,  we  should  first  see  whether  there  be  not  among 
the  New  Testament  writings  any  references  to  each  other. 
I  have  stated  why  it  is  that  this  was  to  be  scarcely,  if  at 
all,  looked  for,  published  as  they  were  within  a  few  years 
of  each  other,  and  previous  to  any  very  general  recogni- 
tion of  them  in  the  Christian  world.  This  however  has 
not  prevented  one  undoubted  reference,  and  a  truly  pre- 
cious one  it  is — we  mean  that  made  by  Peter  to  the  epistles 
of  Paul.  I  have  said  of  Lardner,  that  if  he  wanted  to  ex- 
hibit his  own  argument  in  full  strength,  he  should  have 
begun  with  Peter  and  not  with  Barnabas.  But,  passing 
this,  let  us  attend  to  what  Peter  says,  2  Pet.  iii.  16.  Here 
one  apostle  defers  to  another,  just  as  he  would  have  done 
to  the  writings  of  the  Old  Testament,  putting  them  on  the 
same  level,  by  affixing  to  them  the  same  appropriate  and 
distinctive  appellation.  There  is,  on  every  principle  of 
sound  criticism,  a  tenfold  greater  weight  of  authority  in 
this  verse  for  the  divinity  of  Paul's  epistles,  than  in  all 
which  Barnabas  and  Clement  have  left  behind  them.  We 
shall  not  attempt,  however,  any  exhibition  in  detail  of  the 
testimonies  of  the  Fathers,  but  will  devolve  upon  your- 
selves the  examination  of  them  as  given  in  Lardner's 
Credibility,  or  as  digested  by  Dr.  Paley  into  a  brief  but 
comprehensive  synopsis  in  his  "Evidences  of  Christianity." 
7.  But  it  is  not  enough  that  these  testimonies  should  be 
presented.  They  further  require  to  be  vindicated  against 
a  certain  hostile  impression,  as  prevalent  and  strong  as  it 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  221 

is  utterly  unreasonable — as  if  they  were  but  the  testimonies 
of  Christian  writers,  and  therefore,  of  an  interested  party, 
on  whose  deposition  it  behoves  us  to  look  with  every  feel- 
ing of  suspicion  and  distrust.  We  have  already  attempt- 
ed to  dissipate  a  similar  prejudice  against  the  evidence 
of  the  scriptural  as  compared  with  that  of  the  exscriptural 
authors  ;  and  we  have  succeeded,  I  trust,  in  demonstrating 
on  every  sound  and  received  principle  of  criticism,  the  real 
weight  and  superiority  of  the  former.  And  we  think  it 
were  not  difficult  to  institute  and  complete  a  similar  de- 
monstration in  favor  of  the  Christian,  as  compared  with 
either  the  heathen  or  the  Jewish  testimony. 

8.  One  thing  is  obvious,  that  the  Christian  writer  had 
nearer  and  most  direct  access  to  the  original  sources  of 
information.  He,  if  only,  an  upright,  behoved  to  be  the 
more  enlightened  and  knowing  evidence  of  the  two — 
grounded  on  his  better  opportunities  for  the  verification 
of  those  facts  in  which  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  said 
to  have  taken  its  rise.  There  are  five  or  six  apostolic 
Fathers  whose  writings  have  come  down  to  us,  and  who 
were  cotemporary  with  the  first  witnesses;  and  these 
are  succeeded  by  others  along  the  course  of  descending 
history,  with  such  a  frequency  and  closeness,  as  to  form  a 
chain  of  testimony  quite  unexampled  for  any  other  pas- 
sages in  the  history  of  ancient  times.  And  as  to  the  im- 
putation of  theirs  being  an  interested  testimony,  the  direct 
answer  to  this  is,  that  unless  all  history  be  indeed  a  lie — 
unless  the  combination  can  be  imagined  of  different  and 
distant  authors,  of  all  sorts  of  prejudices  and  persuasions, 
including  even  those  very  heathens  and  Jews  whose  evi- 
dence is  so  much  desiderated  as  being  a  disinterested  tes- 
timony— then,  by  the  universal  and  unquestioned  concur- 
rence of  all  writers,  Christianity  had  to  undergo  the  fiery 
ordeal  of  no  less  than  three  centuries  of  persecution,  ere  it 
obtained  aught  like  permanent  rest  and  toleration  from  the 
powers  of  this  world.  What  possible  account  can  be 
given  for  the  endurance  of  these  protracted  sufferings — all 
incurred  for  adherance  to  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  all 


222  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

avoided  and  escaped  from  by  a  simple  renunciation  of  the 
same.  People  talk  of  interest;  but  on  what  side  did  the 
interest  lie  ?  Had  these  tens  of  thousands  of  martyrs  any 
conceivable  inducement  for  the  profession  of  their  creed, 
apart  from  their  conviction  of  its  truth  ?  Men  might  die 
for  a  falsehood,  but  would  they  die  for  what  they  believed 
to  be  a  falsehood  ?  They  might,  and  they  have  died  for  a 
false  opinion,  because  men  might  err  in  their  opinions ; 
but  they  would  not  die  for  a  false  statement  of  what  they 
had  seen  with  their  own  eyes,  or  heard  with  their  own 
ears.  Now  this  applies  to  the  first  generation  of  martyrs, 
who  would  be  at  all  pains  to  accredit,  and  they  could  do 
it  at  first  hand,  the  truth  of  those  palpable,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  miraculous  events,  on  which  the  rehgion  was 
based  that  they  gave  up  their  lives  for ;  and  the  second 
generation  would  be  at  equal  pains  to  make  sure  an  incor- 
rupt tradition,  from  the  mouths  of  their  predecessors,  of 
the  great  and  primary  evidences  for  the  truth  of  that  relig- 
ion which  the  potentates  of  this  world  had  combined  to 
destroy.  To  quote  one  example,  as  a  type  and  represent- 
ative of  all  the  rest — would  Paul  have  told  the  Corinthians 
of  the  miracles  that  had  been  wrought  amongst  them,  and 
would  they  have  tamely  submitted  to  the  imposture,  if  im- 
posture it  really  was,  at  the  expense  of  ease  and  property 
and  life  and  all  that  was  dear  to  nature  ?  Or  could  their 
children,  the  next  generation  of  the  still  subsisting  Church  at 
Corinth,  have  possibly  fallen  into  a  universal  mistake  about 
the  identity  of  this  said  Epistle  of  Paul,  which  Clement 
tells  them  to  take  into  their  hands  and  read — an  Epistle 
preserved  with  care  in  their  church,  and  having  the  unex- 
cepted  and  uncontrolled  testimony  of  their  own  immediate 
fathers  on  its  side  ?  What  better  guarantees  can  possibly 
be  conceived  for  a  pure  testimony,  purified  like  the  goM 
that  is  tried  seven  times  by  fire?  And  when  one  thinks 
of  this,  not  as  the  single,  but  as  the  concurrent  testimony 
of  many  churches  and  societies,  widely  scattered  over 
different  and  distant  parts  of  the  world,  yet  all  meeting 
in  one  general  expression  of  confiding  reverence  for  the 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  223 

Books  of  the  New  Testament,  and,  of  course,  for  th6  history- 
con  tained  in  them — if  this  history,  after  all,  is  to  be.  set 
aside  as  a  thing  of  naught,  then  all  history  might  well  be 
given  up  as  a  fable,  and  that  for  the  want  of  any  possible 
medium  by  which  the  knowledge  of  past  events  can  be 
transmitted  to  the  men  of  succeeding  ages. 

9.  But  the  more  effectually  to  dissipate  this  illusion, 
grounded  on  the  imagined  superiority  of  a  heathen  to  a 
Christian  testimony,  I  have  long  been  in  the  habit  of  fast- 
ening on  some  actual  testimony  of  the  sort  that  is  so  much 
confided  in;  and  improving  even  upon  it  by  successive 
additions  to  its  credibility  and  force,  have  thereby  been 
enabled  to  assign  the  sort  of  testimony  it  would  at  last 
land  us  in.  For  this  purpose  I  have  instanced  the  Roman 
historian  Tacitus,  who  depones  so  expressly  to  the  per- 
secutions of  the  Christians  in  the  reign  of  Nero,  and  tells 
us  of  the  capital  punishment  which  Jesus  Christ  suffered 
under  the  government  of  Pontius  Pilate,  in  the  country  of 
Judea.  He  writes  altogether  like  a  man  very  generally 
and  very  slenderly  informed  in  these  matters ;  and  we  had 
no  more  right  to  expect  that  he  should  be  particularly  in- 
telligent on  the  affairs  of  this  new  sect  which  had  sprung 
up  in  Palestine,  than  we  should  expect  any  person  of 
general  literature  in  this  city  to  be  perfectly  and  fully 
acquainted  with  the  concerns  of  the  Quakers  in  America. 
or  of  the  Methodists  in  England.  But  certainly  it  would 
have  added  to  the  weight  of  his  testimony^  had  he  been 
at  pains  to  inform  himself — had  he  for  example,  traveled 
through -the  various  Christian  Churches  of  his  time,  and 
made  himself  master  of  all  their  statements  respecting  the 
life  and  ministry  of  Christ,  the  ministry  and  miracles  of  the 
apostles,  and,  above  all,  the  overpowering  attestations,  had 
he  only  interested  himself  so  far  in  the  matter  as  to  have 
collected  and  judged  of  them,  in  behalf  of  the  resurrection 
of  our  Saviour.  Conceive  that  he  had  done  all  this,  and 
that  in  consequence  of  being  satisfied  of  their  truth,  he  had 
engrossed  in  a  paragraph  which  he  transmitted  to  posterity 
on  this  subject,  that  this  Christ,  as  he  himself  by  express 


224  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

inquiry  had  ascertained,  worked  miracles  while  He  lived, 
and  after  having  been  put  to  death,  rose  from  the  grave, 
and  ascended  into  heaven.  Would  this,  think  you,  have 
made  the  testimony  of  Tacitus  more  available  than  it  is  at 
this  moment  for  a  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  Christian- 
ity ?  Would  it  have  been  placed  by  these  additions  to  it 
utterly  beyond  the  reach  of  exception,  so  as  to  have  left  no 
room  for  the  endless  cavils  of  infidelity,  and  unappeasable 
skepticism?  As  it  stands  at  present,  it  comes  before  us  in 
the  character  of  a  plain  history,  by  which  one  important 
fact,  at  least,  is  established — the  heavy  sufferings  which 
Christians  had  to  endure  because  of  their  religion.  But 
how  would  his  announcement  of  the  Christian  miracles 
have  been  received  by  the  doubting  and  disputatious  of  the 
present  day?  Might  they  not  have  said,  and  said  most 
plausibly.  It  is  true  we  have  the  word  of  Tacitus  for  the 
reality  of  these  miracles,  but  we  have  no  more.  Tacitus 
tells  us  of  Christ  as  a  miraculously  gifted  personage,  but 
he  remains  a  heathen  notwithstanding.  We  have  his  say- 
ings, but  not  his  doings,  on  the  side  of  Christianity.  Truly, 
he  must  have  had  no  very  sincere  belief  in  these  said 
credentials  of  a  divine  message — for  after  all,  he  abides 
a  Pagan  ;  or  in  other  words,  refuses  to  accredit  Jesus 
Christ  as  a  divine  messenger.  He  tells  of  His  miracles,  it  is 
true,  just  as  Livy  tells  of  his  prodigies,  without  any  great 
faith,  it  is  probable,  in  either  the  one  or  the  other  on  the  part 
of  these  historians ;  and  therefore  it  is  quite  fair  in  us,  to 
put  the  miracles  recorded  by  the  one,  and  the  prodigies 
recorded  by  the  other,  on  very  much  the  same  level. 

10.  Such  must,  such  would  have  been  said,  had  the  testi- 
mony of  Tacitus  come  down  to  us  in  this  state ;  and  I  ask 
you  to  think  in  what  possible  way  this  defect  could  have 
been  repaired,  or  what  could  Tacitus  have  done  that  would 
have  removed  this  blemish  and  discredit  from  his  testimony  ? 
It  certainly  affixes  great  discredit  to  any  man's  testimony, 
when  the  words  of  his  mouth  are  contradicted  and  given 
the  lie  to  by  the  actions  of  his  life ;  and  so,  should  Tacitus 
have  told  us  that  he  had  examined  the  narratives  of  the 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  225 

Christian  miracles  ;  that  he  had  conversed  with  the  eye- 
witnesses of  some  of  them ;  that  he  had  seen  several  of 
those  who  saw  Christ  after  His  resurrection ;  that  he  in 
consequence  transmitted  them  as  facts,  for  the  reception 
and  belief  of  all  his  readers  ;  it  would  have  affixed  a  serious 
flaw  to  his  whole  account  of  the  matter — it  would  have 
greatly  damaged  his  reputation  for  veracity  and  trust- 
worthiness, if,  after  all,  he  had  remained  an  idolator,  and  if 
not  an  enemy,  at  least  not  a  disciple  of  the  Christian  religion. 
We  again  ask,  How  could  this  be  remedied?  and  the  obvious 
reply  is — By  the  man's  acts,  on  the  one  hand,  and  his  say- 
ings, on  the  other,  being  brought  together  into  right  keeping 
and  harmony.  Let  him  substantiate  his  credit  by  his  con- 
duct, and  then  should  we  have  greater  respect  for  both.  If 
the  resurrection  of  Christ  be  indeed  an  article  of  his  histor- 
ical faith,  the  best  way  of  certifying  this,  were  the  submis- 
sion of  his  understanding  to  the  doctrine,  and  of  his  life  to 
the  law  of  Christ.  It  is  true  it  was  a  serious  thing  to  be- 
come a  disciple  in  those  days — to  share  in  all  the  disgrace 
and  danger,  or  to  brave  an  exposure  to  all  the  losses  and 
the  martyrdoms,  and  the  many  cruel  sufferings  then  attached 
to  the  Christian  name.  But  this  is  the  very  circumstance 
which  made  one's  profession  of  the  gospel  so  convincing 
and  conclusive  a  proof  of  one's  faith  in  the  gospel.  It  was 
the  best  possible  evidence  which  could  be  given  of  sincerity. 
Or,  in  other  words,  Tacitus,  in  all  reason  and  common  sense, 
should  have  best  recommended  himself  to  the  confidence  of 
his  fellows  by  the  act  of  becoming  a  Christian;  and  so  test- 
ing the  reality  of  his  belief  in  the  miracles  that  he  had 
examined,  by  openly  embracing  the  doctrines  that  had 
been  proved  by  them.  Well,  suppose  he  had  done  so; 
and  what  would  have  been  the  consequence  ?  Tacitus,  the 
Roman  historian,  would  thus  have  been  transmuted  into 
Tacitus  the  Christian  Father.  He  would  have  taken  place 
in  his  own  day,  and  come  down  to  us  in  company  with  the 
Polycarps,  and  the  Irenseuses,  and  the  Justin  Martyrs,  and 
the  Tertullians  of  Christian  antiquity.  But  then  should  we 
have  heard  the  people,  whose  delusion  we  are  now  com- 


226  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

bating,  say,  that  it  is  now  a  Christian — or,  according  to  their 
view  of  it,  now  a  suspicious  and  interested  testimony,  which 
is  just  tantamount  to  saying,  that  Tacitus,  by  doing  that 
very  thing  which  formed  the  most  perfect  demonstration 
of  his  honesty  to  the  men  of  his  own  age,  would  therefore, 
and  on  that  account,  have  come  down  with  a  shade  of  dis- 
credit to  the  eyes  of  posterity.  That  which  most  accredited 
his  uprightness  then,  would  have  most  tarnished  the  char- 
acter of  his  testimony  now;  and,  very  strangest  of  all  para- 
doxes in  the  history  of  human  prejudice  and  feeling,  the 
testimony  of  a  heathen,  which  is  regarded  as  so  luminous 
and  satisfactory,  gathers  upon  it  a  certain  soil  of  discredit 
should  the  heathen,  in  the  act  of  becoming  a  Christian,  make 
patent  to  all  men  his  readiness  to  suffer  and  to  die  for  it. 

11.  You  will  now  be  reminded  of  a  former  delusion,  akin 
to  this,  and  which  we  have  already  combated,  when  com- 
paring the  historical  value  of  Mark  within  the  canon,  and 
Mark  without  the  canon ;  and  from  which,  I  trust,  I  made 
it  perfectly  obvious,  that  in  the  testimony  of  Mark  there 
lay  a  greater  weight  of  evidence  than  in  the  testimony  of 
twenty  Barnabases.  And  in  like  manner,  when  we  now 
compare  the  historical  value  of  Tacitus  without  the  Church, 
and  Tacitus  within  the  Church,  w^e  trust  to  have  made  it 
equally  manifest,  that  in  the  single  attestations  of  a  Poly- 
carp  or  a  Justin  Martyr,  we  have  the  evidence  of  more 
than  twenty  Tacituses.  It  is  very  well  that  we  have  the 
dim  and  distant  echo,  or  reflection  of  his  voice  as  a  general 
historian  on  the  affairs  of  the  Roman  empire — when,  in  that 
capacity,  he  tells  us  all  that  we  could  possibly  expect  on 
the  subject  of  that  new  religion  which  had  recently  arisen, 
and  was  now  forcing  itself  on  the  observation  even  of  sec- 
ular and  political  men.  But  while  we  give  all  welcome  to 
their  notices,  let  us  not  forget  that  broad  and  continuous 
pathway,  all  studded  with  luminaries  of  the  first  magnitude, 
and  bringing  down  the  events  of  the  evangelical  story,  in 
a  clear  and  open  vista,  such  as  we  find  nowhere  else,  when 
looking  backward  to  any  other  scene  or  department  in  the 
past  history  of  the  world. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  227 

12.  What  we  have  now  said  of  heathen  is  alike  true  of 
Jewish  testimonies.  We  have,  in  fact,  thousands  of  both 
sorts  on  the  side  of  Christianity,  for  every  testimony  writ- 
ten or  unwritten,  whether  by  authors,  or  by  the  members 
of  the  numerous  churches  formed  in  the  days  of  the  apostles 
— each  of  these,  we  say,  is  the  testimony  either  of  a  Jew 
or  of  a  heathen — ^not  certainly,  We  mean,  of  either  heathen 
or  Jew  after  his  conversion,  but  most  unquestionably  of 
either  Jew  or  heathen  at  the  time  of  his  conversion.  Had 
he  remained  unconverted,  had  he  kept  by  his  Judaism  or 
his  idolatry,  we  could  certainly  expect  from  him  no  testi- 
mony in  favor  of  the  Christian  miracles,  even  though  he 
had  seen  them,  and  so  been  convinced  of  their  reality,  but 
still  withstood  them  so  far,  that  he  refused  to  embrace  the 
faith  of  the  gospel.  And  the  only  question  which  remains 
is,  whether  the  act  of  embracing  that  gospel  by  his  becoming 
a  convert  throws  any  disparagement  on  his  testimony  ? — 
now,  of  course,  the  testimony  of  a  Christian.  But  the  point 
to  be  settled  is,  whether  because  a  Christian,  this  testimony 
is  the  more  to  be  confided  in  or  the  more  to  be  distrusted. 
Strange,  indeed,  that  men  are  to  be  all  the  less  believed  the 
greater  the  proof  is  which  they  give  of  their  sincerity;  or 
that  a  Jew,  affirming  the  miracles  of  the  gospel,  and  re- 
maining a  Jew,  should  be  looked  upon  as  worthier  of  credit 
than  a  Jew  affirming  the  miracles  of  the  gospel,  and  be- 
coming a  disciple  of  the  gospel  in  consequence.  One  can- 
not well  understand  how  this  rule  of  contraries  should  have 
insinuated  itself  into  the  argument  before  us  ;  but  it  does 
look  very  inexplicable,  that  a  testimony  should  be  held 
worthy  of  all  respect  and  entertainment  if  given  by  men 
who  do  not  act  upon  it,  but  shall  fall  into  suspicion  or  dis- 
trust on  the  moment  that  it  is  given  by  men  who  do  act 
upon  it,  nay,  are  ready  to  die  for  it.  But  this  is  just  the 
rule  proceeded  on  by  those  who  desiderate  such  heathen 
and  Jewish  testimonies  as  they  do  not  have,  and  pass  un- 
heeded the  thousand-fold  better  Christian  testimonies  which 
they  do  have — the  testimonies  of  men  who  once  were  Jews 
or  heathens,  and  who,  in  the  act  of  becoming  Christians, 


228  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

gave  an  incalculably  greater  weight  than  before  to  those 
testimonies,  now  passed  through  the  ordeal  of  most  cruel 
sufferings,  and  sealed  by  martyrdom.  Yet  in  the  face  of 
this  obvious  and  powerful  consideration,  will  men  forget 
the  primitive  Judaism  and  Paganism  from  which  these  tes- 
timonies have  emerged,  and  because  now  Christian,  will 
fasten  the  brand  upon  them  of  interested  testimonies.  Mar- 
velous perversity,  that  the  word  of  men  at  ease,  and  who 
refuse  to  forego  one  earthly  interest  for  the  truth,  should 
outweigh  the  word  of  men  who  for  its  sake  have  re- 
nounced all ;  or  that  the  voice  of  those  at  a  distance  from 
the  scene  should  be  caught  up  with  so  much  eagerness, 
while  the  thousand  voices  lifted  up  in  the  very  thick  of  the 
persecutions  are  all  unregarded,  even  the  language  that  fell 
from  men  who  braved  all  for  Christianity,  whether  as  de- 
voted saints,  or  as  dying  martyrs  for  its  cause. 

13.  Yet,  while  we  thus  contend  for  the  superior  weight 
of  the  Christian  testimonies,  let  us  not  undervalue  those 
which  have  been  bequeathed  to  us  by  the  pens  of  Jewish 
and  heathen  writers.  It  is  well  that  we  have  them  such 
as  they  are,  and  they  are  precisely  such  as  we  should  have 
expected  from  men  scantily  informed  of  Christianity,  or 
obstinately  prejudiced  against  it.  They  are  confirmatory, 
as  far  as  they  go ;  and  we  should  certainly  have  been  puz- 
zled and  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  absence  of  such  testi- 
monies, had  we  wanted  them,  altogether ;  or  to  understand 
how  it  was  that  Christianity  had  attained  the  magnitude 
which  we  believe,  on  the  authority  of  Christian  writers,  that 
it  did  attain  in  the  course  of  half  a  century,  and  yet  that 
neither  heathen  nor  Jewish  authors  should  have  taken  any 
notice  of  it.  It  may  appear  an  odd  illustration,  but  I  think 
it  a  just  and  an  effective  one.  Let  us  suppose  that  you  met 
an  acquaintance  in  a  day  of  clear  and  full  sunshine.  With 
the  ocular  evidence  that  you  had,  you  could  have  no  pos^ 
sible  doubt  of  his  identity  ;  but  it  would  perplex  you  not  a 
little  if,  while  perfectly  sure  of  himself,  you  could  not  make 
out  that  he  cast  any  shadow  on  the  ground,  although  all 
the  other  objects  within  the  field  of  vision  cast  theirs.    The 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  229 

presence  of  the  shadow  would  not  be  felt  as  a  thing  at  all 
needed  to  give  any  supplementary  proof  of  the  presence  of 
the  man.  But  still  the  want  of  the  shadow  would  be  a 
very  puzzling  affair  ;  and  it  would  have  been  just  so,  had 
there  been  a  dead  and  universal  silence  on  the  subject  of 
Christianity  among  all  the  Jewish  and  heathen  writers  of 
that  period ;  and  it  is  well  that  we  are  spared  the  trouble 
of  solving  such  an  enigma,  had  the  enigma  been  really  pre- 
sented to  us.  Still  the  main  positive  evidence  for  the  reality 
of  the  Christian  miracles,  lies  in  the  direct  statement  of  the 
Christians  themselves,  just  as  your  main  evidence  for  the 
reality  of  your  friend  lies  in  your  direct  perception  of  him. 
You  would  never  think  of  strengthening,  and  far  less  of 
seeking  for  the  first  of  these  evidences,  by  looking  down  on 
the  second  of  them,  though  certainly  the  want  of  the  second 
would  prove  a  very  strange  anomaly  among  the  phenomena 
of  vision.  And  it  would  have  been  a  like  strange  anomaly 
among  the  phenomena  of  history,  had  we  had  no  Jewish 
or  heathen  testimonies  on  the  subject  of  the  Christian  relig- 
ion, which  arose  in  Judea  during  the  reign  of  the  Emperor 
Tiberius,  and  in  a  few  years  made  itself  known  by  its  many 
thousands  of  proselytes,  to  the  uttermost  limits  of  the  Roman 
empire.  Still  the  great  strength  of  the  credentials  through 
which  we  know  of  and  believe  in  Christianity,  lies  in  the 
direct  force  and  current  of  the  Christian  testimonies ;  and 
there  is  a  preference  of  the  shadow  to  the  substance  on  the 
part  of  those  who,  instead  of  listening  to  their  voice,  feel 
themselves  more  charmed,  as  it  were,  into  the  repose  of 
conviction,  as  if  there  lay  a  greater  power  of  historic  faith 
in  the  dim  and  distant  echoes,  whether  of  Jewish  or  heathen 
writers.  Such  is  the  estimate  in  which  I  hold  their  testi- 
monies ;  not  as  my  informers,  but  as  a  faint  and  feeble  and 
very  partial  reflection  of  the  informations  I  had  previously 
gotten  at  first  hand.  I  am  truly  thankful,  however,  that 
we  have  them,  for  it  saves  me  from  a  great  perplexity — 
just  such  a  perplexity  as  I  should  have  felt  if,  while 
thoroughly  satisfied  that  a  friend  had  entered  my  room,  I 
should  miss  his  image  where  it  ought  to  be  in  the  mirror 


230  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

on  the  wall,  and  so  puzzled  myself  to  ascertain,  if  I  could, 
the  very  singular  mishap  that  had  come  over  the  looking- 
glass. 

14.  It  is  well  that  we  have  no  such  puzzle  in  looking 
back  on  the  records  of  that  period.  There  is  enough  of 
testimony  from  the  mouths,  both  of  heathens  and  Jews,  to 
save  us  from  this  ;  and  the  interesting  thing  therefore  to 
ascertain  is,  what  that  is  which  they  do  testify,  and  what 
is  the  value  of  it.  We  could  not,  as  we  have  already  said, 
expect  much,  if  any,  of  bona  fide  statement  at  their  hands 
on  the  side  of  the  Christian  miracles  ;  and  I  hope  I  have 
already  said  enough  to  show,  that  had  they  done  so,  while 
at  the  same  time  they  kept  by  their  ancient  faiths,  it  would 
have  been  no  improvement  on  the  testimony,  such  as  we 
now  have  it,  and  probably  rather  a  deterioration.  And 
you  will  not  forget,  I  hope,  what  that  is  which  would  have 
brought  the  testimony  from  this  state  of  deterioration,  and 
presented  it  to  us  in  its  most  unexceptionable  form — just 
the  exchange  of  their  old  for  the  new  faith,  in  which  case 
it  would  have  come  doWn  to  us  in  the  character  of  a  Chris- 
tian testimony,  and  therefore  only  swelled  the  glorious 
assemblage  of  those  faultless  and  first-rate  testimonies  which 
we  have  already  in  our  possession.  But  if  they  do  not  tell 
us  of  the  miracles,  what  is  it  they  do  tell  us  ?  Their  far 
most  important  telling  is,  that  while  they  do  not  speak  of 
the  miracles  themselves,  they  speak  most  decisively  and 
abundantly  of  the  persecutions  which  those  underwent  who 
did  speak  of  the  miracles,  and  linked  with  the  conviction  of 
their  reality,  that  faith  and  that  hope  for  which  they  re- 
nounced all  and  suffered  all.  We  do  not  hear  from  them 
of  the  Christian  miracles;  but  we  hear  from  them  of  the 
Christian  persecutions,  those  best  and  most  satisfying  vouch- 
ers for  the  truth  of  the  miracles.  It  is  true  we  hear  of  these 
persecutions,  also  from  the  Christian  writers;  and  on  every 
principle  of  historical  evidence,  the  information  of  these 
last  is  not  only  fuller,  but  ought  to  be  greatly  more  author- 
itative and  convincing ;  and  we  feel  quite  sure  that  a  hish 
torian,  with  no  view  whatever  to  the  deistical  controversy. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  231 

or  to  the  support  of  either  side  of  it,  but  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  an  accurate  representation  of  the  events 
of  the  period,  w^ould  draw  more  largely  and  with  greater 
assurance  on  this  subject  from  the  accounts  of  Justin 
Martyr  and  Tertullian,  than  from  Tacitus,  or  Pliny,  or 
Porphyry,  or  Celsus.  It  is  well,  however,  that  these  have 
bequeathed  to  us  the  intimations  they  have  done  ;  and  that 
on  the  stepping-stone  of  their  unexcepted  testimonies  to  the 
Christian  persecutions,  we  learn  that  the  testimonies,  given 
not  by  them  but  by  others,  by  the  disciples  and  martyrs  of 
a  persecuted  faith,  to  the  Christian  miracles,  was  indeed 
unexceptionable. 

15.  But  whatever  value  we  might  annex  to  Jewish  and 
heathen  testimonies  for  what  they  do  say,  they  may  well 
be  held  of  incalculably  higher  value  for  what  they  do  not 
say.  They  have  transmitted  to  us  no  contradiction,  and 
far  less  any  refutation  of  the  Christian  miracles.  Nay, 
some  of  their  most  noted  adversaries  to  the  faith,  as  Cel- 
sus, have  admitted  the  truth  of  these  miracles,  and  evaded 
their  force  by  ascribing  them  to  magic.  They  allow  them 
as  facts,  but  they  have  invented  a  theory  for  themselves, 
by  which  to  ward  off  the  impression  of  them  as  vouchers 
for  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  We  can  not  imagine  a  more 
diametric  opposition  than  there  is  on  this  subject  between 
the  spirit  of  the  ancient  and  that  of  the  modern  infidelity. 
In  ancient  times  facts  went  for  nothing,  or  were  easily 
overlaid  by  hypotheses  ;  and  so  in  the  present  instance, 
the  historical  truth  of  the  Christian  miracles  could  not  be 
denied — but  as  proofs  for  the  Christian  revelation,  they 
were  set  aside  on  the  hypothesis  of  witchcraft.  In  modern 
times  again,  men  profess  to  be  the  worshipers  of  experience  ; 
and  while  all  mere  hypotheses  are  the  objects  of  distrust, 
there  is  no  one  hypothesis,  perhaps,  in  this  our  philosophic 
and  enlightened  day,  that  would  be  more  the  object  of 
distrust,  or  rather  of  violent  distaste  and  nausea,  than  the 
hypothesis  of  witchcraft.  Let  us  decide  then  between  the 
infidelity  of  the  older  and  the  later  periods,  selecting  that 
which  the  one  was  best  qualified  to  judge  of  and  did  allow, 


232  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  rejecting  that  which  the  other  was  best  qualified  to 
judge  of  and  did  condemn.  Discriminating  thus  between 
the  two  parties,  we  should  accept  of  the  judgment  of  Cel- 
sus  and  his  contemporaries  rather  than  of  those  who  lived 
nearly  two  thousand  years  after  them,  on  the  question  of 
the  facts  which  took  place  so  much  nearer  to  their  own 
age  ;  and  we  should  certainly  lean  more  to  the  judgment 
of  the  moderns,  in  regard  to  the  principle  into  which  the 
facts  might  be  resolved.  And  so  we  cannot  but  side  with 
the  ancient  infidels,  as  to  the  historical  truth  of  the  miracu- 
lous events  which  took  place  in  the  days  of  Christ  and  His 
apostles— while  on  the  other  hand,  we  cannot  but  side  with 
the  modern  infidels  in  regarding  the  hypothesis  of  sorcery 
or  witchcraft  as  we  should  the  follies  of  any  antiquated 
superstition.  Taking  the  one  with  the  other  we  are  shut 
up  to  the  conclusion,  that  these  miracles  were  actually 
performed ;  and  brushing  aside  all  the  visions  of  demonol- 
ogy,  we  must  view  them  as  the  credentials  of  a  message 
from  Him  who  sits  in  high  command  over  all  the  powers 
and  processes  of  nature,  and  was  pleased  on  that  occasion 
visibly  to  interpose  and  overrule  them,  for  the  fulfillment  of 
His  own  counsels,  for  the  objects  of  a  wise  and  righteous 
administration. 

16.  But  the  admission  of  Celsus  is  repeated  by  few  of 
them.  Generally  speaking,  the  miracles  are  passed  over 
in  silence;  and  I  call  upon  you  to  estimate  the  vast  import- 
ance of  this  fact  in  a  pleading  for  the  truth  of  Christianity. 
Is  it  not  clear  as  day,  that  miracles  said  to  have  been  per- 
formed, and  that  in  books  spread  out  before  the  world  a 
few  years  after  the  dates  which  were  assigned  to  them — 
and  performed  where  ?  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  in  the 
villages  of  Judea,  on  the  highways  of  the  land,  and  at  the 
time  when  they  were  crowded  by  wondering  and  inquisi- 
tive multitudes — and  not  only  so,  but  miracles  submitted  to 
the  question — first,  in  the  councils  of  Judea,  and  then  before 
the  Roman  governors,  Pilate,  whose  acts  we  know  were 
transmitted  to  Rome,  and  Herod,  and  Agrippa,  and  Festus, 
and  Felix,  and  others — is  it  for  a  moment  to  be  believed 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  233 

that  these  miracles,  as  the  healing  of  the  most  palpable 
diseases  and  infirmities,  and  the  restoration  of  the  dead  to 
life,  could  not,  if  indeed  so  many  juggleries,  have  been  de- 
tected, and  held  forth  as  such  to  the  derision  of  the  world? 
There  were  the  most  ample  materials,  and  the  most  ample 
opportunities  for  a  withering  exposure  of  the  fraud — if 
fraud  and  imposture  it  really  was  :  and  surely  there  was 
no  want  of  good-will  to  it  on  the  part  of  these  relentless 
and  exasperated  adversaries.  Had  it  been  a  conspiracy 
of  falsehood  on  the  part  of  the  apostles,  they  could  most 
easily  have  blown  it  up ;  and  they  would  most  certainly 
have  blown  it  up  if  they  could.  We  can  understand  that 
these  miracles  should  be  true,  and  yet  that  Jews  and 
heathens  still  persevering  in  their  obstinate  rejection,  of 
Christianity,  should  hold  their  tongues  about  them.  But 
there  is  no  understanding  of  this  deep  and  unbroken  re- 
serve of  theirs,  on  the  supposition  that  the  miracles  were 
false.  We  have  already  explained  how  their  affirmative 
testimony  in  favor  of  the  Christian  miracles,  while  they  re- 
mained unbelievers  in  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  would  have 
been  of  no  great  value.  But  they  have  done  the  greatest 
possible  service  which,  in  their  capacity  whether  as  Jews 
or  heathens,  they  could  have  rendered  to  our  cause,  by  the 
effective  testimony  of  their  silence. 


CHAPTER  V. 

SOME  REMARKS  ON  THE  EVIDENCE  OF  PROPHECY. 

1.  I  HAVE  now  said  all  that  I  can  afford  on  the  subject 
of  the  historical  evidence,  in  as  far  as  it  authenticates 
those  events  which  are  known  by  the  name  of  miracles 
— we  mean  the  miracles  of  power.  Prophecies,  with  their 
fulfillments,  form  another  species  of  miracles^ — the  miracles 
of  knowledge.  And  now  that  we  are  fresh  from  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Fathers,  let  us  observe  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  they  conducted  the  Christian  argument  both  with 
heathens  and  Jews — as  a  peculiarity  of  theirs  altogether 
worthy  of  being  noted — that  they  laid  more  stress  on  the 
argument  from  prophecy  than  they  did  on  the  argument 
from  direct  miracles ;  or,  in  other  words,  while  the  evi- 
dence of  miracles  is  of  far  more  prominent  consideration 
with  us,  who  live  at  the  distance  of  nearly  two  millenniums 
from  the  performance  of  them,  it  was  less  set  by,  or  at 
least  far  less  used  as  a  weapon  of  vindication  by  those  ad- 
vocates for  the  gospel  who  lived  at  the  distance  of  but  two 
centuries — their  favorite  instrument,  whether  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defense  or  aggression,  being  the  evidence  of  pro- 
phecy. This  might  have  admitted  of  easy  explanation, 
if  Jews  had  been  the  only  infidels  whom  the  Christian 
Fathers  had  to  deal  with.    But  they  also  adopted  the  same 

y  treatment  of  the  subject  in  the  argunlentations  which  they 
held  with  the  Gentiles — as  TertuUian,  for  example,  in  the 
Apology  addressed  by  him  to  one  of  the  Roman  emperors; 
and  other  examples  could  be  mentioned,  proving  that  they 
drew  more  largely  upon  the  prophecies  in  those  days  than 
they  did  upon  the  miracles,  or  that  the  former  stood  them 
in  greater  stead  when  engaged  in  fighting  the  battles  of  the 
faith. 

2.  This,  you  will  at  once  observe,  does  not  in  the  least 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  235 

affect  the  force  or  weight  of  their  testimonies  to  the  reality 
of  miracles,  viewed  as  historical  events.  For  this  we  have 
the  most  express  and  numerous  depositions  from  earliest 
times ;  and  what  is  most  valuable,  we  have  their  ascrip- 
tions of  unbounded^  confidence,  verified  by  quotations  and 
references  of  all  sorts,  in  those  narratives  which  give  the 
most  ample  record  of  the  miracles  in  question,  and  those 
apostolic  epistles  which  at  once  re-echo  and  proceed  upon 
their  truth — the  two  together  forming  the  original  docu- 
ments on  which  our  Christianity  is  grounded,  and  appealed 
to  in  all  the  numerous  churches  that  had  sprung  or  were 
springing  up  everywhere,  as  sacred  oracles  of  equal  and 
co-ordinate  authority  with  the  Scriptures  of  the  Mosaic 
dispensation. 

3.  The  thing,  then,  with  which  at  present  we  have  prop- 
erly to  do,  is  not  that  the  miracles  of  the  gospel  were  re- 
jected or  even  slighted  by  the  Christian  Fathers  as  vouchers 
for  the  truth  of  Christianity,  but  that  they  were  less  stren- 
uously and  less  frequently  insisted  on  than  some  of  the 
other  evidences  for  the  faith.  And,  first,  we  have  to  re- 
mark that  this  peculiarity  was  not  confined  to  them ;  for, 
in  tracing  the  matter  upward,  we  shall  meet  with  undoubt- 
ed vestiges  of  the  very  same  habit  within  the  limits  of  the 
New  Testament.  Not  that  the  miracles  were  deemed 
insufficient,  even  of  themselves,  to  substantiate  the  Divine 
mission  of  our  Saviour,  as  we  may  gather  from  the  testi- 
mony of  Nicodemus,  from  the  recorded  dialogues  of  the 
Jews,  and,  above  all,  from  the  remonstrances  of  the  great 
Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith,  when  He  appealed  to  His 
works,  and  said  that  unless  He  had  done  these,  they  had 
not  had  sin.  (John  xv.  24.)  But  still  we  find  that,  in 
point  of  impression,  miracles  did  not  always  tell  so  power- 
fully on  the  convictions  of  the  men  who  witnessed  them, 
as  certain  other  evidences  which  seem  to  have  come  into 
more  powerful  coalescence  with  the  habitudes  of  their  un- 
derstandings. They  had  methods  of  their  own,  in  fact,  by 
which  to  explain  away  the  miracles — ascribing  them  to 
Beelzebub ;  and  to  countervail  this  did  Jesus  Christ  inter- 


236  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

pose  another  evidence,  on  the  failure  or  misgiving  of  the 
first  one^the  evidence  of  His  doctrine,  as  opposed  to  the 
vi^hole  spirit  and  poHcy  of  him  who  v^as  the  prince  of  the 
devils,  and  the  great  adversary  of  the  human  race.  We 
read  even  of  disciples,  vt^ho  must  have  seen  the  miracles, 
falling  away ;  because  they  held  this  evidence  to  have 
been  overborne  by  the  counter-evidence  which  lay  in  the 
hardness  of  His  sayings — while,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
read  of  some  who  believed  because  of  what  they  had  heard, 
and  of  others  who  bore  Him  testimony  that  surely  never 
man  spake  like  this  man.  We  greatly  mistake  the  matter 
if  we  think  that  miracles  were  the  only,  nay,  perhaps,  that 
they  were  even  the  chief  instruments  of  conversion  in  those 
days.  We  on  one  occasion  read,  that  though  He  had  done 
so  many  miracles  before  them,  yet  they  believed  not  on 
Him.  And  on  another  occasion,  that  many  beheved  be- 
cause of  His  own  word — saying,  that  we  believe  because 
we  have  heard  Him  ourselves,  and  know  that  this  is  indeed 
the  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  It  is  not  true  that 
miracles  were  the  only,  we  are  not  even  sure  that  they 
were  the  chief,  credentials  of  His  mission.  He  appeals 
Himself  to  other  evidences  besides— once,  for  example,  to 
the  perfection  of  His  own  character — which  of  you  con- 
vinceth  me  of  sin  ?  and  if  I  say  the  truth  (and,  if  free  from 
sin,  I  cannot  say  otherwise),  why  do  ye  not  believe  me  ? 
Nay,  after  the  most  stupendous  of  all  miracles — that  of 
His  own  resurrection — when  He  fell  in  with  His  disciples, 
instead  of  dwelling  on  the  incontestable  evidence  which 
His  very  presence  amongst  them  afforded  to  the  truth  of 
His  Messiahship,  he  was  at  pains  to  lay  before  them  the 
evidence  of  their  own  Jewish  Scriptures ;  and  beginning 
at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  he  expounded  to  them  the 
things  concerning  Himself.  But  let  us  look  also  to  the 
practice  of  the  apostles  ;  and  this  will  furnish  a  nearer  and 
more  applicable  comparison  with  the  practice  of  their  suc- 
cessors, the  Christian  and  Apostolic  Fathers  who  came 
after  them.  Look  to  their  incessant  appeal  to  the  Old 
Testament,  in  their  reasonings  on  the  things  of  the  king- 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  237 

dom  of  God.  True,  they  worked  miracles,  and  one  of 
their  prime  vocations  was  that  of  witnesses  to  the  resur- 
rection of  the  Saviour.  Yet,  after  all,  mark  the  stress 
which  they  laid  on  the  witness  borne  to  Him  by  the  pro- 
phets and  righteous  men  of  old — as  in  the  very  first  of 
their  recorded  sermons  by  Peter,  and  at  a  time,  too,  when 
the  most  wonderful  manifestation  of  miraculous  power  was 
going  on.  Then  it  is  that  he  speaks  of  the  testimony  given 
by  Joel ;  and  quotes  David,  as  foretelling  that  Christ  who 
had  been  put  to  death  should  come  alive  again.  Again,  in 
his  next  address,  does  he  draw  even  more  upon  the  pro- 
phets, upon  Moses  and  Samuel,  who  had  told  before  of 
these  days,  than  upon  the  miracles  which  he  had  just  per- 
formed in  the  sight  of  all  the  people.  The  book  of  Acts  is 
full  of  examples  of  this  sort.  When  Peter  and  John  were 
again  examined  of  the  deed  done  to  the  impotent  man,  and 
by  what  means  he  was  made  whole — in  pointing  to  the 
Saviour  as  the  cause  of  this  miracle,  they  could  not  refrain 
from  an  appeal,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  prophecy  of  the 
stone  set  at  naught  by  the  builders,  and  which  had  become 
head  of  the  corner.  And  when  Stephen  was  brought  be- 
fore the  Sanhedrim,  immediately  after  he  had  done  great 
miracles  and  wonders  among  the  people,  his  defense  lay, 
not  in  making  reference  to  these,  but  in  a  lengthened  argu- 
mentation based  on  the  Old  Testament  history,  and  which 
he  selected  as  a  pathway  of  conveyance  for  the  gospel  to 
the  understandings  of  those  who  heard  him.  And,  coming 
down  to  Philip,  we  read  that  his  miracles  were  thrown 
away  on  Simon  Magus,  while  his  exposition  of  a  prophecy 
was  what  told  on  the  man  of  Ethiopia.  Even  on  the  first 
conversion  of  a  Gentile,  Peter,  who  was  employed  upon 
that  occasion,  while  the  main  burden  of  his  argument 
rested  on  the  events  which  ushered  in  the  new  dispensa- 
tion, did  not  omit  to  say  that  to  Jesus  Christ  gave  all  the 
prophets  witness.  And,  in  like  manner,  Paul,  while  he 
bare  ample  witness  to  the  resurrection  of  the  Saviour,  and 
worked  many  miracles  in  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen, 
based  many  an  argument  on  the  olden  history  of  the  Jews, 


238  INSTITUTES  GF  THEOLOGY. 

and  on  the  voices  of  the  prophets  read  amongst  them  every 
Sabbath-day,  and  on  the  promise  made  to  the  Fathers,  and 
on  the  sure  mercies  of  David.  Even  w^hen  he  turned 
away  from  them  to  the  Gentiles,  he  adduced  a  vi^arrant  for 
the  step  from  their  own  Scriptures — that  God  had  so  com- 
manded them,  saying,  I  have  set  thee  to  be  a  Hght  of  the 
Gentiles,  and  that  thou  shouldst  be  for  salvation  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth.  He  did  not  satisfy  himself  with  lifting  his 
own  testimony  to  the  resurrection,  even  though  he  had 
miracles  and  wonders  to  show,  as  the  vouchers  of  his  high 
and  heavenly  commission ;  but  he  reasoned  this  with  them 
out  of  the  Scripture — opening  and  alleging  that  Christ  must 
needs  have  suffered  and  risen  from  the  dead.  And  he 
commended  those  disciples  who,  not  content  with  his  own 
word,  searched  the  Scriptures  daily  whether  those  things 
were  so.  And  we  read  of  Apollos,  not  that  he  was  mighty 
in  miracles,  but  mighty  in  the  Scriptures — so  as  mightily 
to  convince  the  Jews,  showing  by  the  Scriptures  that  Jesus 
was  the  Christ.  It  is  thus  that  incessant  appeals  were 
made  by  the  preachers  of  the  apostolic  period  to  the  Bible 
of  the  Jews,  and  more  especially  to  the  prophecies  of  that 
Bible,  for  the  purpose  of  accrediting  Christianity,  amid  all 
the  profusion  of  those  miracles  which  were  wrought  in  its 
behalf;  and  this  whether  to  confirm  its  friends,  or  to 
silence  and  gain  over  its  enemies.  When  contending  for 
the  faith,  they  set  it  forth  as  the  hope  of  the  Fathers, 
believing  all  things  which  are  written  in  the  law  and  the 
prophets,  and  saying  none  other  things,  even  when  testify- 
ing of  the  resurrection,  than  those  which  the  prophets  and 
Moses  did  say  should  come,  "  that  Christ  should  suffer,  and 
that  He  should  be  the  first  to  rise  from  the  dead ;"  inso- 
much that  Paul  felt,  when  pleading  the  cause  before  .kings 
and  governors,  as  if  his  most  conclusive  appeal  was — 
"  Agrippa,  believest  thou  the  prophets  ?  I  know  that  thou 
believest."  And,  finally,  when  this  said  Paul  assembled 
his  countrymen  at  Rome,  and  he  endeavored  to  gain  them 
over  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  it  was  not  by  the  exhibition 
of  miracles,  but  by  expounding  and  testifying  of  the  king- 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  239 

dom  of  God,  and  persuading  them  concerning  Jesus,  both 
out  of  the  law  of  Moses,  and  out  of  the  prophets,  from 
morning  to  evening. 

4,  Ail  these  instances  are  taken  from  the  direct  history; 
and  though  in  the  Epistles,  as  we  have  often  told  you, 
there  are  repeated  appeals  made  to  the  miracles,  yet  there, 
too,  we  have  indications  of  the  same  habit  of  reasoning 
from  the  Old  Testament — as  the  lengthened  argument  of 
Paul  to  the  Romans,  in  a  great  measure  based  on  the  doc- 
trine and  prophecy  of  the  Hebrew  Scripture;  and  to  give 
but  one  example  more,  as  in  the  second  Epistle  of  Peter, 
who,  after  he  had  stated  the  miracle  of  the  transfiguration, 
and  the  voice  from  heaven,  points  his  hearers  to  the  more 
sure  word  of  prophecy — which,  whether  it  means  that 
which  was  taught  in  Scripture,  or  that  which  was  foretold, 
was  a  distinct  appeal  to  another  evidence  than  that  of 
miracles — an  evidence  for  which  they  were  to  give  earn- 
est heed  to  the  thing  uttered  in  old  times  by  the  holy  men  of 
God.  Miracles  were  often  worked  in  those  days,  but,  in 
the  language  of  Paul,  they  often  turned  out  a  sign  to  them 
which  believed  not,  and  which,  therefore,  aggravated  their 
condemnation  ;  like  the  men  of  Capernaum,  who  did  not 
repent,  although  mighty  works  were  done  before  their 
eyes.  But  prophecy,  the  word  of  doctrine,  however,  rather 
than  the  word  of  prescience,  was  the  great  instrument  of 
conversion,  a  sign  to  them  that  believed. 

5.  Now,  if  even  in  the  very  age  of  miracles  this  style  of 
argumentation  was  so  much  indulged  in,  we  could  not  sure- 
ly expect  it  in  less  proportion  or  degree  in  those  subsequent 
ages  when  miracles  had  gone  by.  There  are  many  distinct 
references,  as  you  have  already  seen,  to  these  miracles  in 
the  writings  of  the  Fathers ;  but  let  us  not  wonder  if  the 
references  to  prophecy  should  have  predominated  over 
them.  It  should  naturally  have  been  the  most  effectual  ar- 
gument with  the  Jews,  the  descendants  of  those  men  who 
had  withstood  the  sight  of  miracles,  and  whose  children 
would  all  the  more  readily  withstand  the  record  of  them, 
but  who  might  not  resist  the  testimony  of  their  own  sacred 


240  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

oracles — more  especially  after  the  dreadful  confirmation 
they  had  since  received  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
and  the  total  dispersion  of  the  people  of  Israel.  And  then, 
in  reasoning  with  the  Gentiles,  who  make  such  ready  eva- 
sion from  the  miracles  of  the  gospel,  by  alleging  them  to 
have  had  their  rise  in  demonology,  and  by  likening  them 
to  their  own  prodigies — nothing  could  be  more  natural  than, 
even  in  their  hearing,  to  make  mention  of  those  undoubted 
miracles,  the  evidence  of  which  was  so  palpably  before 
their  eyes — we  mean  the  miracles  of  knowledge,  for  the 
establishment  of  which  they  had  to  appeal  to  those  writings 
of  undoubted  antiquity,  in  which  the  prophecies  were  found  ; 
and  then  to  the  fulfillment  of  that  history  which  was  known 
and  read  of  all  men — thus  connecting  their  religion,  not 
with  the  devices  and  the  sorceries  of  inferior  spirits,  but 
with  the  administration  and  will  of  that  God  whose  pre- 
science reached  all  futurity,  and  whose  overruling  provi- 
dence determined  all  things.* 

6.  Having  thus  explained  the  preference  of  the  Christian 
Fathers  for  the  argument  from  prophecy  to  the  argument 
from  miracles,  let  us  now,  having  expounded  the  latter 
argument  as  much  as  we  had  time  for  it,  satisfy  ourselves 
with  a  very  few  observations  on  prophecy,  as  constituting 
part  of  the  evidence  for  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion. 

7.  But  let  me  first  remark  on  what  indeed  is  indispensa- 
ble to  any  argument  upon  the  subject,  and  that  is  the  evi- 
dence we  have  for  the  distant  priority  of  the  prophecies  to 
their  corresponding  events,  or  the  far  anterior  date  of  the 
former  to  the  latter,  so  as  to  place  the  various  fulfillments, 
without  all  question,  beyond  the  reach  of  human  foresight. 
And  here,  we  may  remark,  how,  for  the  establishment  of 
this  essential  preliminary  condition — how  very  much  we 

*  A  greater  stress  laid  in  the  New  Testament  on  prophecy  than  on  mira- 
cles. The  former  argument  more  genial  to  the  predilection  of  the  Jews, 
and  less  liable  to  evasion.  For  similar  reasons  the  same  peculiarity  might 
be  observed  in  the  writings  of  the  Christian  Fathers,  who  appealed  tar  more 
to  prophecy  than  to  miracles  as  the  vouchers  of  their  faith. — Luke  xxiv.  27  ; 
Acts  ii.  16,  21,  25.  34  ;  iii.  22-25;  iv.  11 ;  vii.;  viii.  30,  35;  x.  43:  Eph.  ii. 
20;  Heb.  i.  i,  10. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  ^  241 

owe  to  the  existence  of  that  deadly  misunderstanding  which 
took  place  between  the  Jews  and  the  Christians.  Had 
there  been  no  such  misunderstanding,  had  the  Jews  to  a 
man  become  the  converts  and  disciples  of  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  proof  for  the  early  existence  of  the  He- 
brew Scriptures  might  have  lain  open  to  suspicions  and 
cavils,  from  which  as  the  case  stands,  they  must  be  wholly 
exempted.  Nothing  can  be  more  perfect  than  the  evidence 
afforded  by  the  agreement  of  those  two  great  dissentient 
parties —  exasperated  to  the  uttermost  against  each  other 
—in  their  common  reverence  for  the  books  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, which  for  their  antiquity  and  genuineness,  are  the 
objects  of  one  and  the  same  historic  faith  to  the  Christians, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  children  of  Israel,  on  the  other. 
On  the  occasion  of  that  great  split  which  took  place  be- 
tweeii  them  some  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  these  two 
great  and  distinct  bodies  parted  company,  but  each  with 
the  same  Bible,  as  far  as  the  Old  Testament  is  concerned  ; 
and  certain  it  is  that  there  has  been  no  concert  or  collusion 
between  them  ever  since  ;  and  our  canon  is  just  their  canon, 
made  up  of  the  same  list  that  we  are  presented  with  by 
Josephus,  and  almost  every  book  accredited  by  New  Tes- 
tament writers  as  of  heavenly  and  divine  origin;  and 
regarded  on  both  sides  as  anterior,  by  several  centuries, 
to  the  ushering  in  of  the  Christian  dispensation.  We  can 
imagine  nothing  more  satisfactory,  nor  aught  in  the  history 
of  erudition  that  more  sensibly  demonstrates  the  safe  trans- 
mission of  ancient  records  through  successive  generations, 
than  a  comparison  between  the  copies  of  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures as  propagated  downwards,  tlu'ough  two  distinct  chan- 
nels so  wholly  separate  from  and  independent  of  each  other 
as  the  Jewish  and  the  Christian.  In  things  sacred  there  was 
between  these  two  societies  no  communication  whatever ; 
and  those  writings  which  were  held  in  equal  demand  and 
veneration  by  both  had  leave  to  multiply,  with  no  other 
guarantees  for  their  integrity  on  either  side  than  the  nat- 
ural law  by  which,  speaking  in  the  general,  each  man  who 
works  for  his  employers  feels  an  interest  in  doing  his  part 

VOL.  VII. — L 


242  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

with  tolerable  accuracy,  or  in  doing  it  tolerably  well.  The 
copyists  and  translators  of  books,  with  a  view  to  their  sale, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  the  demand  of  customers, 
are  at  least  as  much  under  the  operation  of  this  law  as  any 
others  employed  in  the  preparation  of  marketable  articles. 
And  what,  after  the  lapse  of  neai'ly  two  thousand  yeai's,  do 
we  actually  find,  on  the  comparison  of  the  Christian  with 
the  Jewish  copies? — each  exposed  in  their  progress  from 
age  to  age  to  such  random  accidents,  as  must  ever  tend  to 
widen  the  two  great  families  of  manuscripts  from  each  other. 
And  yet  let  critics  tell  how  marvelously  they  agree,  so  as 
to  present  us  in  substance  with  the  same  doctrine  and  the 
same  history ;  and  so  as  to  be,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
the  same  book  in  the  hands  of  the  men  of  these  two  relig- 
ions, who,  at  mortal  variance  in  every  thing  else,  harrx)onize 
only  in  this.  I  cannot  imagine  a  stronger  experimental 
demonstration  of  the  security  wherewith,  on  the  whole,  we 
might  count  upon  the  safe  and  right  transmission  of  the 
deeds  and  documents  of  other  days  ;  and  this  feeling  is 
greatly  enhanced  when  one  reads  the  account  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch.  The  divergency  of 
the  one  people  from  the  other  took  place  many  centuries 
before  the  Christian  era — that  is  when  the  ten  tribes  revolt- 
ed from  the  dominion  of  Rehoboam,  and  took  the  Penta- 
teuch along  with  them,  rejecting  all  the  other  and  more 
recent  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  transmitting  their 
own  Scriptures  for  themselves.  And  if  in  other  and  ordi- 
nary matters,  least  of  all  in  this,  we  may  be  sure  that  the 
Jews  had  no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans.  And  what  is 
the  result  in  this  case  also  ?  With  the  exception  of  one,  or 
at  most  two  veiy  material  variations,  and  which  may  be 
well  accounted  for,  they  have  one  and  the  same  Pentateuch  ; 
and  when  one  thinks  of  the  Samaritan  in  particular — lost 
sight  of  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  since  the  days  of 
the  Christian  Fathers  by  whom  it  is  quoted,  but  afterwards 
recovered,  and  that  chiefly  through  copies  presented  to 
Archbishop  Usher  through  our  embassador  at  Constantino- 
ple— we  cannot  but  look  on  the  phenomenon  of  a  book 


EVIDENCES  OP  CHRISTIANITY.  243 

passing  down,  on  the  whole,  imcorrupled,  through  a  series  of 
centuries,  amounting  to  nearly  three  thousand  years,  with- 
out regarding  it  as  one  the  most  fitted  of  any  we  knew  to 
raise  our  confidence  ia  history,  and  make  it  palpable  that 
there  is  a  solid  and  continuous  pathway,  by  which  its  in- 
formation may  descend  in  safety  to  the  men  of  succeeding 
ages. 

8.  Taking  up  then  the  antiquity  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures 
as  a  sure  point  of  departure ;  and  though  I  have  not  men- 
tioned what  must  have  been  felt  at  the  outset  of  Christian- 
ity as  the  most  undeniable  of  its  proofs,  known  and  read 
of  all  men — the  Septuagint  version  of  the  Old  Testament — 
let  it  be  my  first  advice  to  you  when  entering  on  the  study 
of  prophecy,  to  begin  with  the  Bible  itself,  from  which  you 
may  single  out  those  predictions  which  are  of  the  most 
direct  and  literal  and  unambiguous  description,  and  then  to 
compare  them  with  their  fulfillments,  if  already  fulfilled — 
whether  you  have  learned  o-f  these  fulfillments  from  bygone 
history,  or  read  them  in  the  present  state  of  different  coun- 
tries and  people — whether  in  the  accounts  of  travelers  or 
on  the  field  of  immediate  observation,  and  of  which  there- 
fore you  can  learn  and  judge  from  your  own  eyes.  Of 
these  I  may  state  as  a  specimen,  and  it  forms  one  of  the 
most  striking  as  it  is  one  of  the  earliest  examples,  the  pro- 
phecy of  Moses,  towards  the  end  of  Deuteronomy,  on  the 
dispersion  of  the  Jews  among  all  nations,  and  which  though 
delivered  three  thousand  years  ago,  sets  before  us  a  most 
graphic  representation  of  the  actual  state  of  this  singular 
people— through  whom  we  may  be  said  to  have  a  twofold 
evidence,  first,  in  the  prophecy  that  foretold  their  doom, 
and  secondly,  in  the  Providence  that  fulfills  it.  For  recol- 
lect they  form  the  select  and  solitary  example  of  a  whole 
nation,  maintaining  its  identity  and  oneness  as  a  people,  I 
had  almost  said  as  a  family,  though  scattered  into  fragments, 
and  blown  like  particles  of  dust  to  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth.  I  cannot  stop  to  contemplate  any  longer  this  monu- 
ment of  older  revelations,  but  must  hasten  to  particularize 
a  few  more  of  those  plain  and  undeniable  prophecies,  many 


S44  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

of  them  fulfilled  at  such  brief  intervals  that  we  have  both 
the  prophecy  and  its  accomplishment  laid  before  us  in 
Scripture.  Others  again,  where  not  only  an  event  but  a 
state  is  predicted,  and  so  presenting  us  with  the  manifest 
accomplishments  of  prophecy  now  before  our  eyes.  We 
have  examples  of  this  in  the  kingdom  of  Egypt — in  the 
ruins  of  Babylon  and  Tyre  and  Edom — in  the  subsisting 
condition  and  habits  of  the  descendants  of  Ishmael — in  the 
fortunes  of  Judea,  and  more  especially  of  Jerusalem  as  trod- 
den under  foot  of  an  infidel  power.  As  you  prosecute  the 
study,  you  will  find  what  at  the  outset  might  not  be  so  pal- 
pable brightening  into  greater  clearness  and  certainty  as 
you  become  more  intelligent  and  practiced  in  the  exercise 
which  I  now  recommend  to  you.  After  being  satisfied 
with  such  examples  as  I  have  now  given,  you  will  not  turn 
away  as  unworthy  of  your  regard  from  such  a  prophecy 
as  that  of  Noah,  when  he  pronounces  sentence  of  degrada- 
tion through  Ham  upon  Africa^  and  tells  of  Japheth  dwell- 
ing in  the  tents  of  Shem,  so  manifestly  accordant  with  his- 
tory, not  only  in  the  conquests  and  repeated  invasions  of 
Asia  from  Europe,  as  by  the  arms  of  Alexander,  but  in  the 
occupancy  to  this  day  of  the  vast  domains  of  India  by  the 
people  of  our  own  distant  West.  But  without  digging  into 
what  you  may  at  first  regard  as  the  more  doubtful  and 
obscure  of  prophecy,  though  afterwards,  like  the  ulterior 
stages  of  a  science,  you  will  find  the  way  clearing  up  be- 
fore you  the  further  you  proceed  in  it,  let  me  fasten  your 
attention  at  the  beginning  on  the  more  broad  and  palpable 
fulfillments.  For  this  purpose  I  have  long  been  in  the 
habit  of  recommending  as  the  book  you  should  read  next  to 
the  Bible  passages  I  have  now  specified,  Dr.  Keith  on  pro- 
phecy. The  wise  procedure — whether  you  want  to  pos- 
sess your  own  mind  with  the  argument,  or  to  combat  the 
infidelity  of  others — is  to  begin  with  the  more  unquestion- 
able instances ;  and  even  though  you  should  go  no  further, 
you  will  find  enough  to  decide  the  general  question  of  the 
truth,  both. of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  revelations.  This 
is  the  great  point  to  be  carried.     But  let  me  at  the  same 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  245 

time  apprize  you,  that  if  you  do  go  further,  you  will  meet 
with  a  far  richer  mine  of  evidence  than  you  are  at  all 
aware  of,  and  which  cannot  well  be  explored  without  gath- 
ering from  it  a  more  profound  and  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  scheme  of  salvation,  and  such  views  of  a  presiding 
intelligence  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  as  should  at  once 
confirm  your  faith  and  deepen  your  piety. 

9.  In  the  progressive  study,  then  of  this  great  subject,  I 
would  recommend  as  the  next  object  of  your  attention, 
those  predictions  which  relate  more  immediately  to  the 
Saviour ;  for,  as  we  are  told  in  the  Book  of  Revelation,  the 
testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  great  spirit  and  main  design  of 
prophecy.  In  the  collection  of  these,  beginning  with  the 
prophecy  uttered  to  Adam  before  his  departure  from  Para- 
dise, you  will  meet  with  various  degrees  of  clearness  and 
obscurity — some  of  them  having  the  most  specific  and  un- 
equivocal application  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  others  less 
obvious,  it  may  be,  at  first,  but  as  the  fruit  of  your  greater 
practice  and  proficiency  in  this  department  of  sacred  learn- 
ing, growing  in  your  convictions  the  longer  you  persevere 
in  the  survey  afid  comparison  of  Scripture  with  Scripture. 

10.  In  this  walk  of  investigation  you  will  soon  come  to 
be  satisfied  that  the  whole  ritual  of  Moses  is  but  the  prefig- 
uration,  and  so  a  prophecy,  of  the  great  sacrifice  that  was 
to  be  made  for  the  sins  of  the  world.  You  will  thus  be 
familiarized  with  prophecy  in  action  and  in  symbol,  as  well 
as  prophecy  in  language  or  articulate  utterance.  You  will 
thus  be  made  to  perceive  as  Horsley,  and  others  of  like 
firm  and  high  intellect  with  himself,  and  who  repudiated  at 
the  outset  of  their  studies  the  notion  of  hidden  or  mystical 
significations  vailed  under  the  literalities  of  Scripture — 1 
say,  that  with  tliem  you  will  at  length  be  forced  by  over- 
powering evidence  to  admit,  that  there  are  types  and  alle- 
gories in  the  Old  Testament  standing  related  to  their  anti- 
types in  the  New,  as  the  shadow  is  to  the  substance.  Nay, 
there  are  set  before  us  not  only  typical  ordinances,  but  typ- 
ical events,  and  typical  personages.  It  is  thus  that  our 
Hebrew  Scriptures  are  far  more  instinct  with  the  whole 


246  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

spirit  and  doctrine  of  our  latter  dispensation,  than  appears 
on  the  surface,  or  than  would  strike  many  a  reader  even 
after  his  repeated  perusal  of  these  sacred  writings  of  the 
Jews.  Not  only  is  the  evangelical  Isaiah  full  of  Christ, 
but  in  the  Psalms  of  David,  perhaps  in  the  larger  number 
of  them  a  greater  than  David  is  there.  We  are  quite  sen- 
sible that  the  work  of  spiritualizing  may  be  carried  to  a 
degree  altogether  extravagant  and  fanciful ;  yet  we  prom- 
ise you  many  a  precious  discovery  of  Christ,  hid,  it  may  be, 
as  He  was  for  a  while  from  the  disciples  with  whom  He 
companied  to  Emmaus,  but  at  length  disclosed  to  you  as 
He  was  to  them,  after  that,  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the 
prophets,  He  expounded  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things 
concerning  Himself. 

II.  We  forbear  repeating  the  attestations  we  have  else- 
where given  in  behalf  of  what  are  called  double  prophecies. 
But  let  me,  while  warning  you  against  the  danger  of  giving 
way  to  unbridled  imagination  on  the  subject  of  unfulfilled 
prophecies,  let  me  also  bid  you  be  fully  aware,  that  the 
study  of  these  latter  is  not  only  a  legitimate,  but  a  positively 
required  study.  Notwithstanding  all  the  obscurity  which 
attaches  to  the  book  of  Revelation,  it  is  ushered  in  by  the 
solemn  sanction  of — "  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and  they 
that  hear  the  words  of  this  prophecy,  and  keep  those  things 
which  are  written  therein,  for  the  time  is  at  hand."  It  is 
our  part  to  be  studious  of  the  declaration  in  the  Word,  and 
observant  also  of  the  events  in  the  world.  We  should  be 
at  least  on  the  outlook  ;  and  we  shall  find  at  length  that 
events  will  occur  which  shall  clear  up  and  be  counterparts 
to  the  declarations.  The  prophecies  will  find  a  convincing 
interpretation  in  their  fulfillments ;  and  thus  it  is  that  we 
have  a  glorious  and  increasing  evidence  in  reserve  for  the 
truth  of  Christianity.  No  one  can  read  even  this  most 
enigmatical  of  all  the  inspired  books,  and  compare  it  with 
events  under  the  guidance  of  an  able  commentator,  without 
being  impressed  by  a  strong  general  accordance  between 
the  great  outline  of  the  prophecy  and  the  history  of  our 
species  since  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ON  THE  MORAL  AND  EXPERIMENTAL  EVIDENCES  FOR  THE 
TRUTH  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

1.  We  trust  that  elsewhere  we  have  made  it  palpable 
enough  that,  in  order  to  be  rightly  operated  upon  by  evi- 
dence, it  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  previously  con- 
sider either  the  nature  or  the  rationale  of  its  operation. 
The  direct  is  anterior  to  the  reflex  process  ;  and  the  former 
may  have  been  well  exemplified  for  ages,  may  have  been 
accomplished  with  perfect  soundness  and  facility  by  thou- 
sands of  healthy  and  vigorous  intellects,  before  it  was  ever 
taken  cognizance  of,  or  ever  passed  under  survey  of  the 
latter.  The  process  is  first  exemplified  and  executed,  and 
jt  is  by  an  after  survey  that  at  Jength  it  comes  to  be  de- 
scribed: and  thus  it  is  that  the  mind  of  man  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  advancing  from  its  proofs  to  its  convictions, 
from  the  premises  to  the  conclusion  of  many  an  argument, 
and  by  a  pathway  of  strictest  logic,  long  before  logic  was 
ever  heard  of,  or  it  had  ever  occurred  to  any  to  assign  the 
law  and  philosophy  of  evidence,  or  the  laws  and  processes 
of  the  human  understanding. 

2.  It  would  greatly  serve  to  prepare  you,  not  for  being 
rightly  operated  upon  by  evidence,  but,  which  is  truly  a  dif- 
ferent thing,  for  rightly  understanding  the  method  of  its 
operation — ^did  you  make  just  distinction  between  the 
power  required  for  the  discernment  of  a  truth,  and  the 
power  required  for  its  discovery.  There  might  be  ten 
thousand  minds  capable  of  discerning  what  only  one  of  the 
whole  number  was  capable  of  discovering.  Nay,  what  is 
more,  there  might  not  be  one  individual  of  our  species  who 
could  have  made  the  discovery  of  what,  after  that  the  dis- 
covery is  made  from  some  quarter  foreign  to  the  species, 


248  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

might  not  only  be  read  but  recognized  of  all  men.  In  the 
foi-mer  case,  or  when  man  is  the  discoverer,  there  is  the 
homage  ascribed  to  him  of  a  sagacity  or  a  genius  which 
signalizes  him  above  all  his  fellows  ;  in  the  latter  case,  or 
when  the  discovery  breaks  in  upon  the  world  from  some 
other  quarter,  it  is  referred  to  a  superhuman  origin — to  a 
mind  of  higher  order,  possessed  of  faculties  and  powers 
transcendently  above  the  reach  and  beyond  the  compass  of 
the  unaided  faculties  of  man. 

3.  And  it  might  make  no  difference,  whether  the  truth 
in  question  was  at  one  time  in  the  possession  of  mankind, 
but  afterwards  lost  and  obliterated  in  the  process  of  their 
degeneracy  from  the  light  which  they  originally  enjoyed, 
or  whether  it  be  altogether  new  to  the  species.     Either  to 
discover  what  before  had  been  altogether  unheard  of  with- 
in the  liuiits  of  the  human  family,  or  to  recover  what  was 
originally  known,  but  had  at  length  been  extinguished  and 
is  forgotten,  might  be  an  achievement  utterly  beyond  the 
faculties  of  any   man  upon  earth,  and  the  revelation  of 
which  might  require  the  letting  in  upon  our  World  of  a 
light  and  an  intelligence  from  above.     But  what  we  affirm 
js,  that  the  need  of  such  a  discovery  from  without  of  a 
given  truth,  and  that  owing  to  the  want  of  power  in  man, 
does  not  necessai'ily  imply  the  want  of  power  from  within 
for  the  discernment  of  such  truth,  when  once  it  is  set  be- 
fore us.     A  proposition  which  we  could  never  have  found 
our  way  to,  we  may  nevertheless  recognize  as  worthy  of 
aJl  credit  and  all  acceptation,  when  stated  and  placed  for- 
ward to  our  view.     We  have  no  light  in  ourselves  which 
could  lead  to  the  disclosure  of  it ;  but  when  disclosed  ah 
extra,  there  may  be  a  light  in  ourselves  by  which  to  in- 
vest it  in  the  characters  of  truth,  and  so  to  constrain  the 
homage  of  our  deep-felt  convictions — not  that  light  of  evi- 
dence which  could  open  up  for  us  a  pathway  to  the  object- 
ive, but  a  light  of  evidence  struck  out  betw^een  the  object- 
ive and  the  subjective — requiring  therefore  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  object  by  another,  after  which  it  is  acknowl- 
edged and  appropriated  by  ourselves  as  an  article  of  faith. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  249 

Yet  it  is  not,  we  contend,  a  faith  without  reason,  but  with 
a  reason,  which  though  only  stated  and  explained  by  few, 
may  be  felt,  and  most  legitimately  felt,  by  many:  inso- 
much that  the  doctrine  thus  perceived,  and  thus  admitted 
into  their  creed,  may  take  its  place  amongst  the  clearest 
and  most  confident  of  all  their  reckonings.  It  may  be 
difficult  to  m:ike  this  manifest  w^ithout  the  illustration  of 
specific  examples;  but  We  cannot  afford  a  wide  range  of 
illustration,  and  will  therefore  confine  ourselves  to  the 
direct  explanation  of  the  moral  and  experimental  evidence, 
as  being  sufficient  to  exemplify  what  we  have  now  stated 
in  an  abstract  and  general  form. 

4.  The  moral  system  of  the  gospel  was  that  which  the 
world  had  to  recover,  not  to  find  anew  and  for  the  first 
time.  It  was  obliterated  only,  for  it  had  not  always  been 
a  stranger  to  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men.  Still  its 
reappearance  on  earth  might  require  as  much  of  supernat- 
ural power  as  if  earth  had  never  before  been  visited  by 
its  footsteps.  To  recall  it  before  the  eyes  or  within  the 
bosoms  of  that  species  from  whom  it  had  departed,  might 
call  for  as  great  a  miracle  as  if  it  had  to  be  placed  orig- 
inally there.  For  its  second,  as  w^ell  as  its  first  visit,  it 
might  need  a  bidding  from  the  upper  sanctuary.  The 
reconstruction  or  new  construction  of  the  moral,  might 
require  the  immediate  hand  of  God,  as  well  as  the  new 
creation  of  the  heart  w^ithin  which  it  was  to  be  established. 
The  moral  system  had  possibly  to  be  born  again,  or  born 
from  above,  as  much  as  man  himself  had  to  be  thus  born  ; 
and  the  same  transcendental  power,  the  same  inspiring  or 
regenerating  power,  that  w-as  needful  for  the  one  achieve- 
ment, may  have  been  needful  for  the  other  also.  And  yet 
on  the  objective  presentation  of  a  pure  and  righteous  mo- 
rality coming  to  us  from  without,  there  might  be  a  light 
from  within  to  recognize  and  to  do  it  homage — not  such  a 
light,  we  repeat,  as  could  have  guided  man  to  the  con- 
struction of  a  right  ethical  systein  at  the  first,  but  such  a 
light  as  could  enable  him  to  discern  its  perfection,  when 
once  set  before  him  by  the  hand  of  another,  or  suspended 

L* 


250  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

lo  his  view  from  the  firmament  of  heaven.  There  might 
be  much  in  the  history,  both  of  individuals  and  of  the  spe- 
cies, that  might  stifle  and  overbear  the  moral  sense,  and  so 
as  to  make  it  powerless  for  the  object  of  discovery,  yet  not 
powerless  for  the  object  of  discernment,  were  once  the 
discovery  ready  made  to  our  hands.  Both  the  licentious 
and  the  vindictive  passions  of  our  nature — the  contests 
between  one  nation  and  another— *the  selfishness,  the  pride, 
even  the  patriotism  inspired  by  the  generous  devotion  of 
the  heart  to  kindred  and  to  country — these  may  have  so 
distorted  and  bedimmed  the  moral  vision,  that  the  great 
lessons  of  universal  justice  and  charity  may  have  been 
lost  sight  of  in  the  world,  and  the  pure  system  of  right- 
eousness have  become  a  thing  forgotten  and  unknown. 
Yet  the  light  within,  although  thus  shaded  and  obscured, 
nay,  mantled  over,  and  shrouded  in  a  darkness,  which  no 
force  of  illumination  in  ourselves  could  possibly  have  dis- 
persed or  dissipated — the  light  of  conscience,  although 
thus  stifled  and  thus  overborne,  is  not  therefore  extinguish- 
ed, so  as  not  to  be  relumed  again  by  a  touch  from  with- 
out— as,  for  instance,  by  the  exhibition  of  a  pure  and  perfect 
model  or  exemplar  of  righteousness,  which  one  might  look 
to  and  study,  and  before  which  he  might  awaken  not  to  a 
blind,  but  to  a  just  and  enlightened  admiration.  For  let  it 
well  be  observed,  that  at  the  time  of  such  a  calm  and  lei- 
surely contemplation,  the  darkening  and  disturbing  influ- 
ences, by  which  hitherto  the  moral  light  in  the  soul  had 
been  habitually  overborne,  are  for  a  time  suspended  and 
kept  in  abeyance  ;  when,  therefore,  a  pure  scheme  of  virtue 
presented  to  us  from  without,  might  find  a  counterpart 
and  an  accurate  reflection,  and  so  a  consenting  testimony 
in  the  innermost  recesses  of  our  moral  nature.  You  will 
thus  see,  that  it  might  be  essential  for  the  representation 
of  the  pure  moral  system  to  be  given  ah  extra;  and  yet 
when  given,  that  it  may  evoke  a  right  and  responding  tes- 
timony from  the  recesses  of  the  conscience,  now  that  the 
spectacle  is  set  before  it  of  perfect  virtue,  whether  as  ex- 
pounded didactically,  or  as  exemplified  in  a  living  char- 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  251 

- « . - 

acter.  And  so  the  canonized  virtues  of  antiquity,  the  re- 
venge, the  contracted  patriotism,  the  lordly  contempt  of 
other  nations,  which  signaHzed  the  Jews  still  more  than 
it  did  any  of  the  Gentiles ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  its  toler- 
ated vices,  its  licentiousness,  its  domestic  tyranny,  its  mani- 
fold local  aberrations  from  humanity  and  justice  and  truth 
— such  as  the  thefts  of  Sparta,  and  the  gladiatorships  of 
Rome,  and  the  infanticides  of  India,  and  the  cruel  aban- 
donment of  parents  both  there  and  in  other  countries — 
these,  w^hen  once  the  pure  moral  system  of  the  gospel  is 
placed  before  their  eyes,  and  seen  in  conjunction  with 
them,  come  to  be  altogether  superseded  in  the  estimation 
of  men  thus  set  on  the  exercise  of  their  reflective  faculties; 
and  the  palm  of  superiority  is  universally  awarded  by  all 
such  to  the  humility  and  the  diffusive  benevolence  not  cir- 
cumscribed by  the  limits  of  neighborhood  or  country,  and 
and  the  patience,  under  provocation,  and  the  unweariedness 
in  well-doing,  and  the  scrupulous,  undeviating  rectitude,  and 
the  exalted  purity  both  of  life  and  sentiment,  and  the 
devoted  piety,  and  all  the  othe-r  virtues,  whether  saintly 
or  social,  which  shine  forth  in  the  Christianity  of  the  New 
Testament.* 

5.  Now  it  is  such  a  product,  such  a  phenomenon  as  the 
appearance  of  this  New  Testament  at  the  time  it  did,  and 
in  the  land  of  Judea,  that  requires  to  be  explained.  It  is 
the  unlikelihood  that  its  system  of  pure  and  universal  mo- 
rality ;  its  ethical  code  so  expansive,  so  unfettered  by  aught, 
of  the  local  or  the  temporary,  so  obviously  fitted  to  be  a 
directory,  not  for  this  one  or  that  other  nation,  but  for  the 
species  at  large,  dealing  with  men  as  men,  the  possessors 
of  an  immortal  spirit,  and  adapting  all  its  precepts  and  pro- 
visions to  the  general  state  and  attributes  of  humanity: 
and  then  such  precepts,  whore  love  sits  enthroned  in  golden 
supremacy,  but  a  love  in  conjunction  with  unspotted  holi- 

*  Difference  between  the  faculties  of  discoveiy  and  discernment,  so  that 
many  truths  and  principles  which  could  not  have  been  found  out  might  be 
recognized  as  just  when  presented.  It  is  thus  that  prophets  might  have 
rightfully  gained  the  confidence  of  men  on  the  first  hearing. — Matt.  vii.  28, 
29;  Johuiv.  41,  42;  vii.  45,  46;  x.  14-16;  Actsvi.  10. 


252  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ness ;  so  that  the  licentioas,  as  well  as  the  malignant  pas- 
sions, are  laid  under  process  of  severest  crucifixion,  and 
this  in  order  to  the  formation  of  a  character  at  once  graced 
by  all  the  sanctities,  as  well  as  all  the  charities  of  highest 
virtue — we  say  the  unlikelihood  of  such  a  system  having 
had  an  earthly  origin,  or  that  the  light  of  so  great  a  moral 
resplendency  should  of  itself  have  arisen  from  among  the 
midst  of  Jewish  prejudices  ;  and  where  the  truth  of  a  purer 
and  better  doctrine  had  long  been  buried  under  a  load  of 
traditions  and  the  accumulated  follies  of  many  generations — 
why,  all  this  points  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  a  light  from 
on  high  which  had  visited  them — a  day-spring  from  heaven 
that  shone  upon  a  people  sitting  in  the  region  and  shadow 
of    death.      (Matt.  iv.    16.)       This   conclusion    is  greatly 
strengthened  when  we  look  to  the  immediate  agents  of  a 
disclosure  so  bright  and  so  beautiful — the  son  of  a  carpenter 
at  the  head  of  a  few  fishermen  from  Galilee,  with  such  a 
lack  of  opportunities  or  education,  that  even  the  people 
themselves  could  put  forth  the  question — whence  hath  this 
man  such  knowledge,  having  never  learned  ?     It  has  really 
all  the  characteristics  of  a  great  miracle  ;  not  a  deed  or 
miracle  of  power  ;  not  the  divination  of  another's  thoughts, 
which  might  be  called  a  miracle  of  discernment ;  not  a  pro- 
phecy or  miracle  of  knowledge,  but  the  revelation  of  a  pure 
and  perfect  ethical  system,  so  utterly  beyond  the  reach  or 
penetration  of  those  by  whom  it  was  promulgated,  that  it 
might  well  be  termed  a  miracle  of  doctrine,  or  a  miracle  of 
sentiment — a  system  which  we  judge  to  be  of  God,  because 
we  judge  it  beyond  the  power  of  man  to  have  devised  or 
have  discovered  it,  yet  the  excellence  of  which,  after  it  had 
been  unfolded  and  placed  before  our  view,  might  be  recog- 
nized and  read  of  all  men. 

6.  And  the  miracle  is  the  same,  whether  the  virtue  thus 
set  forth  be  exhibited  didactically,  or  in  a  tablet  of  rules  or 
moral  aphorisms,  or  be  exhibited  descriptively,  as  embodied 
in  the  character  and  deeds  of  a  living  personage.  Now,  in 
the  New  Testament  we  are  presented  with  it  in  both  these 
forms,  the  abstract  and  the  concrete — the  latter  of  which  we 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  253 

should  hold  to  be  ihe  far  more  difficult  achieveQient  of  the 
two,  and  that  whether  exemplified  in  a  real,  or  but  portray- 
ed in  a  fictitious  history — in  \vhich  last  case  we  should  so  lar 
agree  with  Rousseau,  that  we  should  deem  the  inventor  to  be 
at  least  as  miraculous  as  the  hero.  It  is  precisely  thus  that 
the  character  of  Jesus  Christ  becomes  an  argument  for  the 
divinity  of  the  religion  which  He  taught.  And  w^e  doubt 
not  that  many  a  simple  holder  of  the  Bible,  and  who  knows 
but  little  moi'e,  as  he  reads  of  Him  who  went  about  doing 
good  continually,  has  a  deep  and  intimate  and  well-grounded 
feeling  of  the  very  sentiment  which  Rousseau  gives  vent  to, 
when  he  says,  that  if  Socrates  lived  and  died  like  a  philoso- 
pher, Jesus  Christ  lived  and  died  like  a  God. 

7.  But  if  it  be  competent  for  a  man  thus  to  recognize  the 
signatures  of  a  divine  character  in  Him  who  wore  the  form 
of  humanity,  and  has  been  set  forth  to  the  world  as  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  why  may  he  not  be  able  to  recognize 
a  God  as  speaking  to  him  in  the  Scriptures,  who,  though 
unseen  and  unembodied,  might  yet  announce  Himself  in  the 
Bible — ^,iust  as,  not  the  style  only,  but  the  spirit,  not  the  liter- 
ary alone,  but  the  moral  qualities  of  an  author  might  appear 
in  the  book  that  he  has  written?  If  there  be  enough  of 
light  in  the  conscience  to  tell  what  is  supreme  rectitude,  we 
are  not  to  wonder  if  there  should  be  enough  of  light  in  the 
understanding  for  enabling  us  to  interpret — nay,  even  to 
identify  when  presentation  of  them  is  made  to  us,  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  supreme  God.  It  is  by  a  single  step  that 
we  remount  from  the  feeling  of  a  conscience  within  the 
breast,  to  an  intelligent  faith  in  Him  w^ho  is  greater  than  the 
conscience,  and  knoweth  all  things;  and  why  may  we  not, 
by  a  single  st^p,  make  ascent  from  the  felt  lessons  of  this 
conscience  to  an  intelligent  view  of  Him,  who,  through  this 
organ  of  the  inner  man,  makes  known  the  intimations  of 
His  will,  and  so  of  His  character,  to  the  children  of  men  ? 
It  is  thus  that  a  peasant  may,  in  the  act  of  reading  his  Bible, 
feel,  and  most  legitimately  feel,  on  the  strength  of  the  inti- 
mations given  there,  that  he  is  holding  converse  with  God. 
A  nnajesty,  and  a  moral  greatness,  and  a  voice  of  command- 


254  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ing  authority,  such  as  no  man  ever  uttered,  and  which  im- 
mediately evinces  itself  to  be  a  voice  from  the  sanctuary  on 
high — these,  if  felt,  though  never  to  be  adequately  described, 
might  be  the  satisfying,  and  not  the  satisfying  only,  but  valid 
and  sufficient  vouchers  for  the  divinity  of  Him  who  has 
thus  imprinted  the  traces  and  manifestations  of  Himself  in 
the  pages  of  his  own  inspiration.  We  do  not  need  to  wait 
for  the  description  of  this  evidence  ere  it  shall  become  oper- 
ative—for whether  it  shall  be  ever  or  not  described  philoso- 
phically, operativeitis,  and  will  be  efficiently  and  practically. 
Nor  is  its  description  in  the  least  necessary  for  its  taking 
effc^ct  on  him  who  is  the  subject  of  it.  But  though  we  do 
not  need  to  wait  for  the  description  of  it,  that  is  no  reason 
why  we  should  either  look  on  the  description  of  it  as  a 
thing  impracticable,  or  if  executed  successfully,  that  we 
should  turn  away  from  it,  as  a  thing  of  naught.  It  is  most 
satisfactory  to  know  of  any  given  belief,  that  it  is  accordant 
both  with  the  laws  of  evidence  and  with  the  laws  and  pro- 
cesses of  the  human  understanding,  and  that  we  should  be 
able  to  say,  whether  we  have  come  to  it  by  the  immediate 
suggestion  of  a  first  principle,  or  by  derivative  process  and 
as  the  conclusion  of  an  argument.  Thei^e  is  a  disposition, 
we  fear,  among  the  mystics  of  a  certain  school,  to  set  aside 
all  this,  and  that  on  the  strength  of  a  certain  principle,  or, 
we  should  leather  suspect,  of  a  certain  nomenclature  of 
their  own.  We  most  readily  concede  to  them  that  there 
is  evidence  which  tells  most  efficaciously,  and  withal  most 
rightly,  on  the  mind,  and  that  long  anterior  to  any  reflex 
view  having  been  taken  of  it,  or  to  its  ever  having  been 
made  the  subject  of  a  philosophy  at  all.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  should  most  certainly  invite  the  attention  of  those 
who  are  most  profound  in  the  analysis  of  the  human  spirit, 
and  encourage  to  the  uttermost  their  philosophical  treat- 
ment of  this  said  evidence;  nor  can  we  think  it  wrong  that 
we  should  require  some  account  of  it  at  their  hands.  The 
apostle  asked  his  disciples  to  give  a  reason  of  their  hope  ; 
nor  would  1  be  startled  by  the  question  being  put  in  another 
form,  and  I  were  asked  to  give  a  reason  of  my  faith.     If 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  255 

this  faith  be  a  conviction  that  springs  up  in  the  immediate 
light  of  a  first  principle,  let  me  be  told  so  ;  and  if  so  told  to 
my  own  satisfaction,  that  to  me  will  be  a  satisfactory  rea- 
son for  it.  But  I  have  no  idea  that  this  is  a  topic  not  to  be 
meddled  with,  or  of  being  put  off  with  the  bare  allegation 
that  it  is  a  matter  of  faith,  and  therefore  reason  has  nothing 
to  do  with  it.  At  this  rate  we  should  have  as  many  men- 
tal instincts  as  we  have  of  those  beliefs  or  perceptions  to 
which,  in  the  countless  diversity  of  the  objects  of  human 
thought,  the  mind  of  man  is  found  to  be  competent.  I  feel 
persuaded  that  by  such  an  unsettling  of  the  old  founda- 
tions, both  the  judgments  of  common  sense  and  the  infor- 
mations of  Scripture  may  come  to  be  alike  overborne,  and 
that  a  neology  of  another  form,  of  a  more  mystic  and 
etherial  character  than  its  predecessor,  might  still  practice 
the  same  wanton  freedom  with  the  literalities  of  the  Bible, 
and  overlay  the  Word  of  God  by  a  wayward  and  pre- 
sumptuous rationalism  of  its  own.* 

8.  We  know  not  in  how  far  a  revelation  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  finds  a  place  in  the  reasoning,  I  ought  perhaps  rather 
to  say  in  the  reveries  of  the  men  of  this  school.  I  believe 
that  there  is  such  a  revelation  in  every  instance  of  conver- 
sion to  the  saving  faith  of  the  gospel ;  first,  for  the  plain 
reason  that  I  read  of  it  in  Scripture;  and  secondly,  be- 
cause I  know  of  its  subjection  and  actual  operation,  whether 
from  my  own  experience,  or  from  my  observation  x)f  it  in 
others,  it  is  unnecessary  to  say.  And  still  I  can  ^ee  no 
reason,  why,  if  this  is  what  we  find,  this  is  not  also  what  we 
might  philosophize  upon.  If  a  mental  phenomenon  at  all, 
it  surely  might  be  stated,  and  if  it  bear  aught  of  likeness 
or  relationship  to  other  phenomena,  the  place  it  holds  among 
these  might  surely  be  assigned  for  it.  And  my  reason  for 
adverting  to  the  Spirit  under  the  head  of  the  moral  evi- 
dence is,  that  with  this  evidence  I  conceive  the  Spirit  has  to 

*  The  evideDce  of  a  spokeu  communication  may  be  transferred  with  full 
power  to  a  written  communication,  and  so  as  to  make  the  Bible  the  an- 
nouncer of  its  own  credentials. — Luke  x.\i.  31 ;  2  Tim.  iii.  15 ;  Heb.  iv.  12  ; 
Rom.  X.  17  ;  Joha  viii.  43  ;  Ps.  cxix.  105.  . 


25ff  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

do.  Indeed,  I  am  not  aware  that  the  witness  of  the  Spirit 
is  ever  distinct  from  the  vivid  representation  of  some  one 
or  other  of  the  internal  evidences  of  Scripture.  I  do  not 
understand  that  it  is  by  any  audible,  or  any  direct  visible 
intimation  from  Himself,  that  He  makes  known  to  us  the 
truth  of  the  things  whereof  we  read  in  the  Word  of  God. 
We  look  immediately  to  the  things,  and  in  the  things  them- 
selves are  we  made  to  see  their  own  truthfulness.  It -might 
be  illustrated  thus: — in  looking  to  a  sensible  object,  there 
may  be  certain  microscopic  lineaments  or  features  there- 
upon too  minute  for  the  discernment  of  our  unaided  eye- 
sight. Let  it  but  be  imagined  of  this  eyesight,  that  it  is 
made  tenfold  more  powerful  and  perspicacious  than  before 
— on  this  simple  change  there  will  start  into  visibility  a 
microcosm  before  hidden  from  observation,  but  now  stand- 
ing forth  most  obviously  and  conspicuously  before  us.  Con- 
ceive this  done  by  miracle — then  it  is  both  true  that  what  I 
now  see  has  been  revealed  to  me  by  an  extraordinary  mani- 
festation ;  and  yet  that  I  believe  in  its  reality  on  what  to 
me  is  the  first-rate  evidence  of  occular  demonstration,  or 
the  evidence  of  the  senses.  The  man  who  has  been  made 
the  subject  of  such  a  transformation  can  say,  and  say  most 
warrantably,  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see.  Our  expla- 
nation of  the  process  does  not  make  him  see  in  the  least 
better,  and  his  confidence  is  just  as  solid  and  well-grounded 
a  one  without  the  explanation  as  with  it.  But  still  it  is  an 
explanation  which  might  tell  beneficially  on  other  men,  and 
dispose  them  to  look  respectfully  and  with  attention,  on  a 
subject  which  has  been  often  made  the  jeer  of  infidelity — 
though  capable  of  being  so  illustrated  and  so  set  forth,  as 
if  not  to  restrain  a  Felix  from  denouncing  the  pretension 
as  mad,  at  least  to  extort  from  the  candor  of  many  an 
Agrippa  the  acknowledgment  that  these  are  the  words  of 
truth  and  soberness  ;  nay,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  to  lead 
him  who  i^s  almost,  to  be  altogether  persuaded,  and  to  be- 
come a  Christian. 

9.  For  what  is  true  of  material  might  be  as  true  of  men- 
tal vision ;  as,  for  example,  of  the  beholding  of  the  things 


EVIDENCES  OF   CHRISTIANITY.  257 

contained  in  the  book  of  God.  Grant  but  an  increased 
power  of  discernment,  and  things  not  seen  before  may 
evolve  into  manifestation — and  the  manifestation,  it  maybe, 
of  such  characters  of  majesty  and  moral  worth,  as  might 
force  the  conviction  that  God  is  verily  in  the  Bible  of  a 
truth.  Such  a  vail  as  is  on  the  heart  of  the  Jews  in  the 
reading  of  the  Old  Testament,  might  obstruct  and  hide  the 
truth  from  their  eyes — a  truth  which  may  come  at  length 
to  be  disclosed  at  their  conversion,  when  the  vail  is  taken 
away.  This  will  be  the  doing,  it  is  expressly  said,  of  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord,  who  by  the  simple  removal  of  a  film 
from  the  eye  of  the  mind,  might  unfold  to  us  the  Scriptures, 
in  all  the  glory  of  those  evidences  which  bespeak  their 
origin  from  on  high.  The  resulting  belief  is  all  the  more 
sure  from  the  way  in  which  it  is  effected — from  the  fulfill- 
ment of  a  promise  which  the  Bible  itself  holds  out,  and 
which  is  thus  made  good  to  the  experience  of  the  inquirer, 
even  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  to  those  who  ask  Him. 
When  the  manifestation  at  length  comes,  as  the  result  of 
earnest  reading  and  earnest  prayer,  its  coming  so  gives 
him  all  the  greater  confidence  of  its  being  a  light  from 
heaven  ;  and  he  places  full  reliance  on  the  sureness  of  the 
word,  when,  after  a  course  of  heedful  and  prayerful  atten- 
tion thereto,  he  finds  the  day  to  dawn  and  the  day-star  to 
arise  in  his  heart.* 

10.  You  are  quite  prepared,  I  trust,  to  admit  that  there 
is  a  certain  force  of  sentiment,  which  even  a  peasant  might 
most  legitimately  feel,  and  under  which  he  is  impelled,  and 
that  by  a  sense  of  its  rightful  and  moral  obligation,  to  read 
his  Bible.  It  is  not  that  at  the  outset  he  believes  his  Bible; 
he  has  not  yet  gotten  to  the  proofs  of  its  veracity.  He  has 
gotten  no  farther  than  what  is  called  in  law  the  precognition 
of  it — yet  such  a  precognition  it  may  be,  that,  however 

*  The  Spirit  worketh  in  us  faith  by  evideuce — an  evidence  which  be- 
comes manifest  to  tbem  whose  eyes  are  open  to  behold  the  things  con- 
taiued  in  the  book  of  God's  law,  and  who  have  the  vail  taken  from  their 
hearts.— Ps.  cxix.  18  ;  2  Cor.  iii.  13,  15  ;  2  Pet.  i.  19  ;  Eph.  ii.  8 ;  John  xvi. 
14,  15 ;  Eph.  V.  14. 


258  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

slight  and  transient,  makes  it  his  imperative  duty,  if  not  to 
take  its  statements  into  his  creed,  at  least  to  take  them  into 
his  earnest  consideration.  The  Bible  has  so  much  of  veri- 
similitude as,  even  on  the  first  glance  we  bestow  upon  it, 
should  co-nstrain  and  perpetuate  our  attention  to  it,  as  being 
altogether  worthy  of  a  further  hearing  or  further  examina- 
tion. This  is  an  obligation  which  might  be  brought  as 
clearly  and  powerfully  home  to  the  conscience  of  the  un- 
learned, as  of  the  highly  educated  reader;  and  thus  it  is 
that,  by  dint  of  the  lessons  given  under  the  parental  roof, 
or  of  the  appeals  made  Sabbath  after  Sabbath  from  the 
pulpit,  such  an  influence  might  be  brought  to  bear  on  every 
household  ana  every  neighborhood,  as  should  fill  every 
country  that  enjoys  these  opportunities,  if  not  with  con- 
firmed disciples,  at  least  with  diligent  and  anxious  inquirers 
after  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

11.  It  is  by  tracing  the  mental  history  of  one  of  these, 
that  both  the  moral  and  experimental  evidence  of  Christian- 
ity might  be  illustrated.  To  meet  the  one  there  is  a  moral 
sense  or  conscience  alike  vigorous  in  all  classes,  and  re- 
quiring no  scholarship  to  aid  its  perceptions  of  right  and 
wrong."  To  meet  the  other  thei-e  is  a  consciousness,  a 
faculty  alike  universal  among  men  ;  and  in  virtue  of  which 
the  most  unlettered  workman  might  be  just  as  sensible  of 
his  own  thoughts,  and  of  certain  characteristics  of  his  own 
nature,  as  the  most  profound  and  accomplished  philosopher. 
We  admit  that  the  one  may  have  acquired  a  certain  meta- 
physical power  of  self-scrutiny  and  inspection,  of  which  the 
other  is  incapable,  and  in  virtue  of  which,  too,  he  may  be 
enabled  to  describe  the  process  which  the  other  can  only 
feel  ;  yet,  along  which  both  might  be  alike  safely  and  well 
conducted  by  the  right  footsteps  to  the  same  right  and  sure 
conclusion.  It  is  true  that,  for  the  fulfillment  of  this  process, 
the  inner  man  must  be  perpetually  awake,  for  it  is  mainly 
on  the  strength  of  its  recognitions,  that  the  truth  and  divinity 
of  the  Christian  message  come  to  be  recognized.  The  un- 
learned, in  the  apostles'  days,  who  said.  Verily  God  must 
be  in  them  of  a  truth,  for  they  know  all  that  is  in  our  hearts, 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  259 

must  have  had  the  consciousness  of  what  was  in  their  hearts, 
or  they  could  not  have  said  so.  But  this  was  not  the  con- 
sciousness of  those  faint  and  shadowy  Uneaments  on  the 
tablet  of  the  inner  man,  which  might  require  for  their  dis- 
covery and  delineation  a  power  of  mental  analysis  that  is 
possessed  only  by  few,  but  of  certain  broader  and  more 
discernible  characters  which  had  been  made  to  stand  forth 
in  palpable  manifestation  there;  and  which,  when  thus 
evoked,  are  alike  patent  to  every  man's  conscience — may 
be  recognized  and  read  of  all  men. 

12.  We  have  already,  when  entering  on  the  subject  of 
the  moral  evidence,  made  distinction  between  the  discovery 
of  a  truth,  to  which  only  one  man  perhaps  of  the  whole 
species,  or  even  no  man,  but  only  a  superhuman  being,  is 
alone  competent — and  the  discernment  of  the  same  truth, 
w^hich,  when  once  it  is  announced,  might  lie  within  the 
compass  of  the  faculties  of  all  men.  In  the  moral  evidence 
that  faculty  is  conscience,  which  may  not  have  enough  of 
light  for  enabling  us  to  form  a  right  ethical  system,  but  light 
enough  for  an  admiring  recognition  of  its  excellence,  after 
it  has  been  framed  and  set  forth  by  the  hand  of  another. 
In  the  experimental  evidence  the  faculty  brought  into  play 
is  that  of  consciousness,  that,  on  the  one  hand,  might  be  so 
far  asleep  as  to  be  insensible  of  many  things,  which,  though 
lying  on  its  own  field,  might  nevertheless  escape  its  obser- 
vation, and  yet  be  so  far  awake  as  to  become  sensible  of 
those  things,  on  the  moment  that  utterance  is  made  of  them. 
We  hold  this  to  be  a  very  common  phenomenon ;  nor  do  we 
look  on  the  explanation  of  its  rationale  as  at  all  impos- 
sible. 

13.  As  a  proof  of  many  things  lying  dormant  in  the  mind, 
yet  to  the  consciousness  of  which  we  can  be  awakened  by 
a  voice  from  without,  let  me  bid  you  think  how  many  the 
days  of  your  life  that  is  past,  whereof  you  have  altogether 
lost  the  remembrance;  and  not  only  of  the  days  themselves, 
but-of  all  that  has  happened  in  them.  Nay,  I  am  confident 
that,  confining  the  retrospect  only  to  the  last  year,  many 
are  the  days  of  it,  the  history  of  which,  and  all  the  events 


260  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

of  which  have  clean  gone  from  your  memories,  and  never 
again  to  re-appear  or  present  themselves,  at  least  during 
the  remainder  of  your  lives  in  this  w^orld.  And  yet  I  will 
venture  to  affirm,  that  there  is  not  one  of  these  days  on 
which  a  something  did  not  happen,  which  would  be  recalled 
to  your  memory,  did  some  of  your  acquaintances  but  make 
mention  of  it.  It  never  would  come  to  your  recollection 
spontaneously,  or  by  any  effort  of  your  own  ;  but  what  you 
never  could  have  minded  yourself,  you  might  he  reminded 
of  by  another.  So  that  while  to  you  it  is  an  altogether  lost 
and  forgotten  thing,  it  might  be  fully  restored  by  an  in- 
former from  without,  and  that  you  will  observe,  not  because 
of  the  faith  you  put  in  his  veracity,  not  because  of  the  evi- 
dence which  lies  in  his  testimony,  but  because  of  the  evi- 
dence which  lies  in  your  own  felt  and  conscious  recollection, 
now  awakened  by  an  external  voice,  from  what  would  else 
have  been  an  unbroken  and  perpetual  slumber.  And  it  is 
thus  that  not  only  may  his  statements  of  fact,  however  for- 
gotten, be  adopted  by  you,  but,  what  may  be  regarded  as 
still  more  extraordinary,  his  statements  of  truth  and  princi- 
ple, however  unheard  of  before,  though  perfect  novelties, 
and  uttered  to  you  at  least  for  the  first  time  in  your  lives, 
may  also  be  adopted  by  you  with  all  confidence  ;  and  that 
not  because  of  any  deference  to  his  authority,  but  because, 
seen  by  yourselves  in  the  light  of  their  own  reasonableness, 
they  at  once  obtain  the  sanction  of  your  judgment.  The 
remarkable  thing  of  these  statements  is,  that  they  should  be 
altogether  new,  and  yet  that  you  should  be  so  ripe  and  ready 
with  an  instant  and  intelligent  approbation  of  them.  Let  a 
shrewd  observer  of  our  nature  come  forth  in  authorship  with 
his  just  remarks  on  life  and  character  ;  and,  however  orig- 
inal, they  will  be  met  by  the  shrewd  discernment  of  many 
a  reader,  and  on  the  moment  acquiesced  in,  though  never 
before  presented  to  his  notice.  The  mystery  here  is  not 
what  the  light  is  in  which  these  novelties  have  been  dis- 
covered by  the  author,  but  what  the  light  is  in  which  they 
are  discerned  by  the  reader.  How  comes  he  to  have  such 
an  instant  perception  of  their  truth  and  justness  ?     A  whole 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  261 

page  or  chapter  may  be  lighted  np  by  perfect  novelties  of 
sentiment  and  remark  ;  and  yet  novelties  though  they  be, 
the  reader  does  not  need  to  peruse  and  to  inquire  and  to 
cast  about  for  evidence,  in  order  to  carry  his  own  acqui- 
escence  in  the  propositions  which  the  author  sets  before  him. 
It  seems  as  if  the  very  utterance  of  the  propositions  raised 
up  that  medium  of  light  in  the  mind  of  him  who  heard  them, 
bywhich  their  own  truth  might  be  apprehended.  Some- 
how or  other,  the  wisdom  of  the  author  finds  its  way,  as  if 
by  instant  flashes  of  manifestation  into  the  mind  of  his 
readers,  who  award  to  him  the  homage  of  being  the  most 
shrewd  and  intelhgent  of  all  observers. 

14.  The  only  way  in  which  this  remarkable  but  un- 
doubted phenomenon  seems  capable  of  explanation,  is  by 
that  law^  of  mind  which  has  been  termed  the  associating 
principle.  The  sentiment,  or  the  descriptive  and  experi- 
mental truth  might  be  altogether  new  ;  and  yet  on  the  in- 
stant of  being  heard,  may  command  the  instant  assent  of 
our  judgment,  not  from  any  deference  to  the  authority  of 
him  w^ho  uttered  it,  but  because  associated,  as  it  may  be, 
with  the  facts  and  the  findings  of  our  ow^n  personal  obser- 
vation, it  might  by  this  very  process  in  the  constitution  of 
the  mind — we  mean  the  process  of  suggestion — bring  these 
forth  to  one's  own  notice  and  recollection,  and  thus  awaken 
a  whole  host  of  sleeping  witnesses,  as  it  were,  each  of  which 
may  confirm,  or  be  an  independent  voucher  within,  for  the 
perfect  justness  and  accuracy  of  that  which  has  been  spoken 
from  without,  or  presented  to  the  eyes  of  the  reader,  when 
engaged  in  the  perusal  of  some  book,  which  places  the 
lessons  of  moral  and  experimental  wisdom  before  him.  It 
is  thus  that  the  manifestation  of  the  truth  might  be  made, 
and  that  at  once,  to  a  man's  own  consciousness,  even  of 
things  spoken  for  the  first  time,  and  never  before  adverted  to. 

15.  And  it  is  precisely  thus  that  the  Bible,  when  brought 
into  converse  with  the  human  spirit,  may  by  means  of  the 
consciousness  which  it  awakens  there,  manifest  the  truth 
of  its  own  averments,  to  him  who  sits  intently  over  its 
pages.     A  man  may  never  once  have  thought  of  the  deep 


262  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  entire  ungodliness  of  his  nature — when,  perhaps, 
some  such  expression  as  that  of  being  without  God  in  the 
world,  might  open  his  eyes  to  the  retrospect  of  his  own 
life,  and  might  compel  him  to  acknowledge  that,  in  the  his- 
tory of  himself,  he  beholds  an  accurate  reflection  of  the 
humanity  that  is  pictured  in  the  Bible.  This  is  but  one 
of  those  descriptive  traits  in  which  it  abounds,  and  which 
meet  us  everywhere — in  the  confessions  of  its  psalmistsj  or 
in  the  denunciations  of  its  prophets,  or  in  the  direct  charges 
and  reasonings  of  its  apostles,  and  all  of  which  might  open 
the  fountains  of  memory  and  consciousness  within,  and  so 
bring  home  to  one's  own  bosom  the  humbling  conviction 
of — "  Thou  art  the  man."  It  is  thus  that  with  no  other 
apparatus  than  a  Bible  and  a  conscience,  a  light  may  be 
struck  out  between  them.  A  man  might  be  awakened 
thereby  into  a  thorough  conviction  of  sin,  while  at  the  same 
time,  he  cannot  but  recognize  of  the  book  which  has 
so  effectually  taught  the  lesson  to  him,  that  it  is  a  wise 
discerner  both  of  the  things  in  his  history,  and  of  the 
thoughts  and  intents  in  his  heart.* 

16.  But  this  is  only  one  great  lesson.  The  process  does 
not  stop  here.  The  man,  under,  it  may  be,  the  agonies  of 
remorse  and  the  fears  of  vengeance,  casts  about  for  more 
of  the  informations  which  are  to  be  found  in  this  volume, 
and  more  especially  if  he  is  made  to  understand  that  it  is 
not  only  a  messenger  to  tell  him  of  his  sin,  but  to  tell  him 
also  of  salvation.  At  this  stage  of  the  inquiry,  you  will 
perceive  how  the  consciousness  and  the  conscience  are 
both  in  play — the  one  to  tell  him  of  God's  law,  the  other  to 
tell  him  -of  his  own  immeasurable  distance  and  deficiency 
therefrom.  The  testimony  of  the  word  is  re-echoed  by  the 
inward  sense  of  the  reader,  and  we  are  not  to  wonder  if 
the  attention  which  he  gave  to  it  at  the  first  should  hence- 
forth be  still  more  riveted  on  its    communications;  or  that 

*  A  man  may,  in  the  reading  of  his  Bible,  meet  with  such  averments,  as, 
on  the  strength  of  his  conscience  and  consciousness  together,  shall  etfectually 
convince  him  of  sin.  This  is  the  first  stage  of  the  expenmental  evidence. 
— Ps.  xix.  12  ;  1.  21 ;  li.  3  ;  liii.  2  ;  Iv.  19  ;  Jer.  xvii.  9  ;  Eccl.  vii.  20 ;  Johu 
xvi.  8  ;  Rom.  iii.  23  ;  Acts  xxiv.  25  ;  1  Johu  i.  8 ;  Eph.  iv.  22. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  263 

he  should  continue  in  daily  and  habitual  converse  with  the 
informer  whose  statements  have  already  awakened  so  pow- 
erful an  interest  in  his  bosom.  It  is  when  thus  occupied 
that  another  great  lesson  might  come  into  view,  and  he  be 
at  length  conducted  from  the  doctrine  of  human  guilt  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  propitiation  that  has  been  made  for  it. 
He  may  be  led  to  perceive  the  exquisite  skill  wherewith 
this  expedient  for  the  salvation  of  a  sinner  harmonizes  all 
the  attributes  of  the  Godhead,  and  without  indignity  to  the 
Lawgiver  secures  the  full  indemnity  of  those  who  have 
trampled  under  foot  the  authority  of  His  government.  An 
expedient  so  fitted  to  allay  all  the  misgivings  of  conscience 
under  the  terrors  of  the  divine  justice,  might  well  bespeak 
to  his  mind  the  wisdom  of  Him  who  devised  it;  and  in  its 
precious  adaptation  to  his  moral  and  spiritual  exigencies, 
he  might  as  readily  conclude  for  a  God  as  being  the  author 
of  the  Word,  as  in  the  adaptations  of  external  nature  to 
his  physical  wants,  he  concludes  for  a  God  as  being  the 
author  of  the  world.  This  is  our  second  example  of  an 
accordancy  between  the  tablet  of  an  outward  revelation, 
and  the  tablet  of  our  own  moral  nature.  More  could  be 
given;  and  you  can  well  imagine  them  so  manifold  and 
various  as  to  yield  the  same  profusion  of  evidence  for  a 
divine  author  of  Scripture,  as  for  a  divine  author  and 
former  of  the  universe.* 

17.  But  the  crowning  and  conclusive  argument  lies  in 
the  revelation  of  these  things  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  His 
revelation  of  these  things,  we  say,  for  it  is  by  a  light  shining 
upon  these,  and  not  by  the  light  of  any  more  direct  mani- 
festation, that  the  truth  of  these  things  is  evolved  upon  our 
understandings.  He  makes  the  thing  to  be  proved  clear 
to  us  by  making  the  proof  itself  clear.  He  does  not  super- 
sede the  argument  that  we  have  just  given,  for  it  is  by  that 
argument  that  He  brings  us  to  the  conclusion  of  the  Scrip- 

*  The  doctrine  of  the  atonement  and  of  an  imputed  righteousness  carry 
in  them  the  experimental  evidence  of  an  accordance  between  what  man 
feels  that  he  needs  and  the  provision  made  for  it  and  freely  offered  to  him 
in  the  gospel.— Isa.  liii.  5,  6,  8,  10-12  ;  Jer.  xxiii.  6  ;  Matt.  xx.  28  ;  John  i. 
29  ;  Acts  xiii.  39  ;  Rom.  iii.  22,  24,  26 ;  x.  3,  4  ;  2  Cor.  v.  21  ;  Gal.  ii.  16  ; 
Phil.  iii.  9  ;  1  John  iv.  10 ;  Rev.  i.  5,  6. 


264  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

tures  being  Divine.  When  the  converts  in  the  apostles' 
days  were  made  to  exclaim,  These  men  know  all  the  things 
which  are  in  our  hearts  ;  and,  Verily  God  is  in  them  of  a 
truth — they  made  use  of  the  very  argument  which  we  have 
been  trying  to  propound.  This  was  the  argument  which 
convinced  them  of  the  Divine  mission  of  the  apostles  ;  and 
yet,  also,  it  was  the  Spirit  of  God  who  convinced  them, 
not  without  the  argument,  but  by  the  argument.  He  made 
them  see  or  understand  the  things  which  the  apostles  said, 
just  as  at  this  very  hour  He  opens  the  eyes  of  inquiring 
suppliants  to  behold  the  things  which  apostles  have  written, 
fulfilling  on  them  the  prayer  of  the  psalmist — Open  Thou 
mine  eyes  to  behold  the  wondrous  things  contained  in  the 
book  of  Thy  law  ;  or  removing  the  vail  which  lies  on  the 
tablet  of  the  outward  revelation — that  vail  which  we  are 
told  intercepts  the  discernment  of  the  unbelieving  Jews  in 
their  reading  of  the  Old  Testament.  But  the  Spirit  does 
more  than  this  for  us.  He  further  opens  our  eyes  to  be- 
hold the  things  which  are  in  our  hearts.  He  makes  known 
ourselves  to  us.  He  gives  a  perspicaciousness  beyond 
that  of  nature  or  its  faculties,  to  the  eye  of  consciousness, 
to  what  Dr.  Thomas  Brown  calls  the  faculty  of  internal  ob- 
servation, and  thus  enables  us  to  discern  many  of  the  char- 
acters before  hidden  from  the  view  which  lie  graven  on 
the  tablet  of  the  inner  man.  The  argument  lies  in  the  ac- 
cordancy  of  these  two  tablets,  insomuch  that  the  one  is  an 
accurate  representation  or  reflection  of  the  other;  and  the 
man  who  is  now  made  to  look  intelligently  upon  both,  can 
say — The  Bible  tells  us  all  that  is  in  our  hearts,  our  now 
felt  moral  disease,  of  which  that  book,  and  it  alone,  gives 
an  adequate  description,  and  for  which  that  book,  and  it 
alone,  proposes  an  adequate  remedy — an  appliance  which, 
of  all  others,  is  the  one  exactly  suited  to  the  now  felt 
exigencies  of  our  state,  the  now  felt  wants  and  desires 
of  our  nature.  But  although  the  Spirit  should  make 
use  of  this  argument,  and  no  other,  the  whole  strength 
of  the  resulting  conviction  is  not  to  be  measured  by 
the  strength  of  the  argument  alone  and  viewed  in  itself. 
The  conviction,  we  say,  is  mightily  strengthened  further 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  265 

by  the  very  way  in  which  we  are  put  in  possession  of  the 
argument,  by  the  sight  that  we  have  gotten  of  the  materials 
out  of  which  it  is  framed,  insomuch  that  we  can  now  say,  in 
answer  to  prayer,  it  may  be,  Whereas  I  was  once  blind,  I 
now  see.  For  had  we  got  at  the  sight  of  these  two  tab- 
lets— that  is,  of  the  Bible  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  our  own 
moral  nature  on  the  other — had  we  been  conscious  of  get- 
ting at  it  by  the  exercise  of  our  natural  faculties  alone,  and 
just  in  the  way  that  we  get  at  the  better  understanding  of 
any  other  book,  or  by  the  help  of  the  mental  philosophy  at 
a  better  acquaintance  with  ourselves — there  might  have 
been  room  for  the  apprehension,  that  no  doubt  we  had 
come  to  the  discernment  of  a  marvelous  accordance  be- 
tween these  objective  scriptures  on  the  one  hand,  and  our 
own  subjective  nature  on  the  other ;  but  still  it  might  have 
been  thought  not  so  marvelous,  that  what  we  had  thus  been 
able  to  discern,  others,  the  highly  gifted  of  our  species, 
might  have  been  able  to  discover ;  and  hence  still,  for 
aught  we  know,  the  human  origin  of  Christianity.  It  puts 
a  conclusive  end  to  this  last  remainder  of  skepticism,  if 
the  discernment  be  come  at  in  a  way  different  from  the 
ordinary  way  by  which  I  come  at  the  discernment  either 
of  any  other  subject  or  any  other  book — if  conscious  nei- 
ther of  the  logic  nor  of  the  metaphysical  observation  by 
which  I  arrived  at  it — if  not  the  result  of  any  lesson  taught  at 
universities,  but  a  lesson  gotten  at  the  school  of  conscience, 
and  given  to  the  deeply  exercised  spirit,  when  laboring  in 
darkness  and  under  a  sense  of  guilt,  after  peace  with 
God — given,  too,  in  a  way  which  accords  with  the  Bible's 
own  promise — that  he  who  seeketh  findeth,  and  with  what 
it  expressly  tells  of  the  way  of  the  Spirit — that  no  man 
knoweth  whence  it  cometh,  or  whither  it  goeth.  The  very 
fact  and  finding  on  a  man's  own  personal  history  of  a  trans- 
lation thus  brought  about  from  darkness  to  the  marvelous 
light  of  the  gospel— this  of  itself  is  enough  to  constitute  a 
most  overpowering  evidence  for  the  divinity  of  this  gospel, 
and  to  account  for  the  phenomenon  of  the  conversion 
which  has  resulted  therefrom. 
VOL.   vif. — -M 


CHAPTER  VII. 

GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  A  PREVIOUS  WORK  ON  THE  EVIDENCES 
OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

1.  I  MUST  now  bring  these  few  sketches  on  the  evidences 
of  Christianity  to  a  close,  partly  because  the  great  bulk  of 
my  preparations  both  on  natural  theology  and  the  eviden- 
ces of  Christianity  have  been  transferred  from  the  Chair  to 
the  press.  With  regard  to  my  two  volumes  on  the  Evi- 
dences, let  me  take  the  opportunity  of  correcting  a  miscon- 
ception of  them  which  I  find  to  be  greatly  more  prevalent 
than  I  could  have  wished.  It  is  now  thirty-two  years  ago, 
or  in  1812,  that  I  published  a  little  work  on  the  Evidences 
of  Christianity,  which  went  through  a  great  many  editions, 
and  wherewith,  I  believe,  the  theological  public  are  fami- 
liar enough.  But  now,  about  seven  years  ago,  I  made 
that  work  the  basis  of  another  three  times  larger  than 
itself  on  the  same  subject,  and  with  the  same  title,  and 
which,  instead  of  giving  forth  in  a  separate  form,  I  placed 
in  the  general  series  of  all  my  works,  and  thus  a  very  prev- 
alent notion  that  this  is  but  the  republication  of  the  origi- 
nal treatise,  so  that  the  views  there  given,  and  for  which  I 
have  the  greatest  value,  are  finding  their  way  more  slowly 
to  general  observation  than  they  might  otherwise  have 
done,  saving,  to  be  sure,  when  my  kind  friends,  Dr.  Buck- 
land  of  Oxford,  and  Mr.  Babbage,  and  that  very  accom- 
plished theologian  Dr.  Pye  Smith,  have  the  goodness  to 
patronize  them,  and  give  them  at  least  this  compliment, 
that  they  believe  thern  to  be  well  founded,  or  able  to  stand 
on  the  ground  of  their  own  merits,  for  they  bring  them  for- 
ward in  their  own  naked  abstractness — that  is,  minus  the 
name  of  the  person  with  whom  they  originated.  But  as 
these  are  not  the  only  instances,  I  hope  to  stand  excused 
if  I  present  you  with  a  very  brief  synopsis  of  the  new  mat- 
ters  contained  in  the  third  and  fourth  volumes  of  my  series. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  267 

They  are  chiefly  taken  up  with  such  views  and  considera- 
tions as  are  scarcely  if  at  all  expatiated  upon  by  other 
writers ;  and  as  they  would  not  have  been  given  unless  I 
had  happened  to  have  some  value  for  them,  I  trust  to  be 
excused  if  I  devote  one  chapter  to  some  account  of  what 
they  are. 

2.  In  the  first  chapter  of  my  first  book — on  the  cogni- 
zance which  the  understanding  takes  of  its  own  processes, 
— I  labor  to  demonstrate,  that,  with  or  without  that  cogni- 
zance, the  processes  might  go  on  rightly ;  and  that  thus 
the  human  mind  might  be  conducted  to  sound  and  logical 
conclusions  on  all  sorts  of  subjects,  without  ever  having 
studied  either  the  logic  or  the  metaphysics  or  the  mental 
physiology  of  those  trains  along  which  the  intellect  pro- 
ceeds, when  it  passes  onward  from  the  consideration  of 
proofs  or  credentials  which  belong  to  any  given  topic  to 
the  ultimate  conviction  into  which  it  settles  down  regard- 
ing it.  I  estimate  very  highly  the  distinction  which  I  try 
to  establish  between  the  direct  and  the  reflex  operations  of 
the  judgment — and  that  chiefly  because  of  the  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  w^ho  never  attempt  the  latter  exer- 
cise, yet  do  acquit  themselves  most  vigorously  and  justly 
of  the  former ;  and  for  which  reason  I  am  fully  satisfied, 
that  the  grounds  of  the  popular  belief  in  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity, whether  these  have  been  expounded  or  not  by  the 
learned  in  theology,  do  nevertheless  compose  a  valid  found- 
ation and  warrant  for  the  faith,  and  supply  a  reason  for 
the  hope  that  is  in  them  to  that  multitude  of  unlettered,  it 
may  be,  yet  soundly  thinking  disciples,  who  form,  in  great 
bulk  and  body,  the  family  of  believers  throughout  the 
parishes  of  Christendom. 

3.  Our  next  abstract  and  preliminary  topic  is  man's  in- 
stinctive faith  in  the  constancy  of  nature — in  the  study  of 
which  I  should  like  you  to  master  the  distinction  between 
the  outset  disposition  of  the  mind  to  count  on  the  uni- 
formity of  nature's  sequences,  and  that  experimental  faith 
which  grows  up  among  the  after-findings  of  observation, 
and  makes  one  surer  every  day  of  the  same  result  in 


268  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  same  assemblage  of  visible  circumstances.  It  is  when 
thus  employed  that  you  will  find  the  germ  of  that  reason- 
ing which  we  have  brought  to  bear  on  the  sophistry  of 
Hume,  when  he  offers  to  demonstrate  the  incompetence 
of  human  testimony  to  accredit  a  miracle.  I  shall  attempt 
at  present  no  repetition  of  this  argument,  but  would  direct 
your  attention  to  the  manner  in  which  I  endeavor  to  prove 
that,  by  the  concurrence  of  certain  inanimate  witnesses, 
the  truth  even  of  the  most  stupendous  miracles  might  be 
firmly  and  mathematically  established. 

4.  I  should  also  like  that,  after  having  studied  our  refuta- 
tion of  Hume,  you  would  ponder  well  the  observation  of 
Laplace,  on  the  accordancy  which  obtains  between  the 
instinctive  convictions  of  the  multitude,  in  matters  of 
greater  or  less  probability,  and  the  calculations  of  men  of 
science.  This  is  exemplified  not  only  in  the  judgments 
which  they  pass  on  the  credibility  of  ordinary  events,  but 
also  of  those  extraordinary  events  called  miracles ;  and  it 
forms  one  of  the  best  specimens  of  our  favorite  distinction 
between  the  direct  and  the  reflex  in  the  processes  of  the 
human  intellect.  Altogether  it  is  fitted  to  inspire  a  higher 
as  well  as  a  juster  respect  for  the  popular  understanding, 
and  may  well  prepare  us  to  expect,  that  there  are  evi- 
dences for  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  which  tell  immediately 
in  the  work  of  conversion,  and  which  may  not  yet  have 
been  set  forth  in  the  full  and  philosophic  exhibition  of  their 
principles  to  the  world. 

5.  After  having  finished  what  may  be  called  these  pref- 
atory and  general  views,  we  enter,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  second  book,  on  the  consideration  of  the  principles 
of  historical  evidence — a  subject  on  which  a  vast  deal  yet 
reniains  to  be  said  ;  and  the  full  and  orderly  exposition  of 
which  is  still  a  desideratum  in  literature.  My  chief  object 
is  to  expose  the  effects  of  a  certain  influence  which  haunts, 
and  I  think  is  apt  to  paralyze,  the  mind  in  its  investigation 
of  the  historical  evidence  for  the  truth  of  Christianity.  It 
is  well  to  be  aware  of  this,  lest  the  argument  should  suf- 
fer an  injustice  in  our  hands,  so  that  our  impression  of  its 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  269 

weight  shall  fall  greatly  short  of  the  real  substance  and 
power  of  it.  I  cannot  too  often  reiterate  that  we  invite 
and  would  be  satisfied  with  the  very  same  treatment  of 
the  documentary  evidence  for  the  facts  of  the  evangelical 
narrative  that  is  bestowed  on  all  other  history,  and  that  on 
the  principles  of  our  received  and  ordinary  criticism.  The 
defenders  of  Christianity  have  failed  in  not  holding  out  a 
more  bold  and  decided  front  to  their  adversaries. 

6.  Passing  over  the  two  next  chapters,  which  treat  of 
the  more  ordinary  parts  of  the  Christian  argument,  I  would 
like  if  I  could  succeed  in  fastening  your  attention  on  the 
fourth  and  fifth  chapters  of  the  second  book,  where  I 
attempt  to  expose  two  delusions,  distinct  in  themselves,  but 
derived  from  a  common  origin — each  of  them  depending 
on  the  imagination — that  the  parties  under  trial  must 
necessarily  be  the  objects  of  greater  suspicion  than  the 
parties  called  in  to  give  a  testimony  regarding  them — ^just 
as  in  a  court  of  justice  you  would  defer  more  to  the  state- 
ment of  the  witnesses  in  the  box  than  to  the  statement  of 
the  party  at  the  bar.  Under  the  influence  of  this  concep- 
tion or  feeling,  there  is  a  strong  predisposition  to  listen  more 
and  depend  more  on  the  evidence  of  an  exscriptural  than  on 
that  of  a  scriptural  author  ;  and  I  have  therefore  attempted 
to  make  it  manifest  that,  on  every  principle  of  sound  and 
right  estimation,  this  judgment  ought  to  be  reversed  ;  and 
have  stated  the  grounds  on  which  I  hold  that  the  historical 
evidence  to  be  gathered  from  within  the  Bible  is  of  greater 
inherent  weight,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  of  greater  actual 
power  and  efficacy,  than  the  argument  which  is  gathered 
from  the  contemporary  and  subsequent  writers,  who  are 
placed  without  the  limits  of  the  scriptural  record. 

7.  And,  as  being  quite  akin  to  this,  I  have  transferred 
the  same  principle  to  the  comparison,  in  point  of  value, 
between  a  Jewish  or  heathen  and  a  Christian  writer.  I 
must  say  that  I  lay  a  great  stress  on  each  of  these  distinct 
considerations,  which  first  occurred  to  me  in  the  original 
treatise  of  thirty-two  years  back,  and  which  I  have  since 
dwelt  upon  and  illustrated  at  greater  length  in  my  recent 


270  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  more  expanded  treatise  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity. 
I  could  wish  that  you  pondered  well  each  of  these  views, 
as  I  feel  confident  that  they  would  conduct  you  to  a  much 
higher  appreciation  of  the  real  worth  and  value  of  the  Chris- 
tian argument  than  is  commonly  made  by  the  general  run 
either  of  readers  or  writers  on  the  Deistical  controversy. 

8.  After  this  there  follows  what  has  long  been  a  fa- 
vorite topic — the  due  exposition  of  which  would,  I  think, 
place  the  Christian  argument  on  a  high  vantage-ground 
when  confronted  with  the  reigning  principles  of  scientific 
men ;  and  more  especially  of  those  who  glory  in  having 
discarded  the  gratuitous  imaginations  of  the  schoolmen, 
and  set  themselves  forth  as  the  worshipers  of  experience. 
If  there  be  one  idea  rather  than  another  in  which  I  feel 
myself  more  disposed  to  luxuriate,  it  is  in  the  strictly  Ba- 
conian character  of  the  historical  evidence  for  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  and  on  the  perfect  accordance  which  obtains 
between  the  spirit  of  him  who  in  philosophy  would  take 
his  lesson  from  observation,  and  of  him  who  in  theology 
would  take  his  lesson  from  Scripture — the  one,  in  every 
subject  of  merely  human  knowledge,  putting  the  question 
of.  What  findest  thou  ?  and  the  other,  in  every  subject  of 
divine  knowledge,  putting  the  question  of.  What  readest 
thou  ?  I  am  aware  of  nothing  that  I  could  more  gladly 
seize  upon,  or  so  wield,  con  amove,  as  a  favorite  weapon, 
whether  of  aggression  or  defense,  than  the  alliance  of  prin- 
ciple which  obtains  between  a  sound  philosophy  and  a 
sound  faith.  There  is  nothing  which  gives  me  the  feel- 
ing of  greater  soHdity  in  our  religion  than  the  undoubted 
truth  of  what  has  often  been  aflBrmed  respecting  it — that 
it  is  a  religion  of  facts  as  opposed  to  a  religion  of  fan- 
cies— resting  on  history,  and  not  on  hypothesis — based  at 
the  outset  on  the  evidence  of  observation,  by  men  who 
first  saw  and  then  became  witnesses  to  the  miracles  of  the 
gospel,  and  thence  conveyed  to  us  by  a  pathway  of  mani- 
fold and  unexceptionable  testimonies,  oi'  by  an  evidence 
still,  if  not  of  an  original,  at  least  of  a  derivative  observa- 
tion.    Give  me  the  truly  inductive  spirit  to  which  modern 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  271 

science  stands  indebted  both  for  the  soHdity  of  her  founda- 
tion and  for  the  wondrous  elevation  of  her  superstructure, 
and  this,  when  transferred  to  the  study  of  things  sacred, 
and  consistently  proceeded  on,  would  infallibly  lead,  in  the 
investigation,  first  of  the  credentials,  and  then  of  the  con- 
tents of  revelation,  to  the  firmer  establishment  of  a  Bible 
Christianity  in  the  mind  of  every  inquirer. 

9.  After  this  succeed  a  few  slight  remarks  on  the  argu- 
ment from  prophecy,  which  I  only  notice  because  I  have 
entered  so  little  upon  this  subject  throughout  the  lessons  of 
riiy  present  course,  and  must  therefore  commit  it  to  your 
own  private  studies.  I  would  also  notice  the  succeeding 
chapter  for  the  same  reason,  as  its  topic  I  have  not  been 
able  to  enter  on  at  all — we  mean  the  connection  between 
the  truth  of  a  miracle  and  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  in  sup- 
port of  which  it  is  performed,  a  nice  and  important  ques- 
tion, and  of  which  various  solutions  have  been  given  by 
different  theologians.  I  invite  your  attention  to  it,  that 
3^ou  may  see  how  the  question  can  be  so  managed  as  to 
harmonize  the  respective  claims  both  of  natural  and  re- 
vealed theology,  and  that  by  a  treatment  altogether  free 
from  the  charge  of  reasoning  in  a  circle. 

10.  We  pass  over  the  next  chapter  on  the  consistency  of 
Scripture  with  itself  and  with  cotemporary  authorship,  as 
both  Lardner  and  Paley  make  so  full  a  presentation  of  the 
materials  of  this  argument ;  after  which  succeed  the  chap- 
ters on  the  moral  and  experimental  evidence,  which  I  would 
have  you  particularly  to  read,  as  I  can  but  afford  now  to 
touch  upon  it  with  the  utmost  brevity  in  the  Chair.  Of  all 
the  evidence  that  can  be  adduced  for  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity, it  is  that  for  which  I  have  the  greatest  value — both 
from  its  being  the  only  evidence  which  tells  on  the  con- 
sciences and  understandings  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people, 
and  also,  1  think,  that  evidence  which  is  the  main  instrument 
of  conversion,  or  for  working  in  the  minds  of  your  hearers 
that  faith  which  is  unto  salvation.  And,  for  this  purpose,  I 
trust  you  already  perceive  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  you 
to  expound  this  evidence  from  the  pulpit,  in  the  way  in 


272  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

which  I  hold  it  incumbent  on  me  to  expound  it  from  the 
Chair.  This  may  be  the  right  place  for  the  description  of 
what  I  should  call  the  subjective  process ;  but  the  task 
which  you  have  to  perform,  as  the  ministers  of  congrega- 
tions and  parishes,  is  wholly  of  a  different  kind — not  to 
describe  the  subjective  process,  but  to  present  those  object- 
ive truths  which  executively  and  in  effect  will  set  that  pro- 
cess working  in  the  minds  of  those  to  whom  you  address, 
yourselves.  In  other  words,  your  great  work  is  simply  to 
preach  the  gospel,  and  leave  its  doctrines,  its  calls,  its 
warnings,  and  persuasions,  as  you  find  them  in  the  Bible, 
and  thence  hold  them  forth  to  the  view  of  the  people,  to 
work  their  own  appropriate  and  direct  influence  on  the 
popular  mind,  which  will  thereby  be  brought  into  contact, 
not  only  with  the  subject-matter  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus,  but  also  with  the  reasons  for  the  truth  of  it.  A  light 
is  thus  evolved  or  struck  out,  if  I  may  so  speak,  from  the 
contact  of  God's  Bible  with  man's  conscience.  It  may  be 
my  business  to  give  the  reflex  and  philosophical  exposition 
of  this  mental  process  here ;  but  it  is  not  your  business  to 
give  it  there.  Your  proper  work,  I  repeat,  is  to  preach  and 
present  the  word,  or  bring  it  into  juxtaposition  with  the 
minds  of  your  hearers — when,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  this 
word  will  do  its  proper  work  in  the  manifestation  of  itself 
to  the  consciences  of  men.  We  will  give  ourselves  wholly, 
say  the  apostles,  to  the  ministry  of  the  word  and  to  prayer. 
But  to  minister  the  word  is  a  very  different  employment 
from  that  of  explaining  the  philosophy  of  its  operation — ^just 
as  different,  indeed,  as  prayer  is ;  and  yet  both  the  preach- 
ing and  the  praying,  with  the  respective  efficacy  of  each, 
are  fit  subjects  for  philosophical  explanation.  It  might  be 
attempted  here,  however  preposterous  and  misplaced  would 
be  such  an  attempt  from  the  pulpit.  At  most,  however,  I 
have  only  been  able  to  give  a  very  condensed  or  synoptical 
view  of  the  argument,  and  should  therefore  like  that  you 
would  read  these  two  chapters,  along  with  the  other  works 
that  I  have  recommended  on  the  internal  evidence  for  the 
truth  of  Christianity.     The  chapter  which  follows,  on  the 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  273 

portable  character  of  the  evidence  for  Christianity,  has  been 
severely  remarked  on  by  critics  as  wholly  incongruous  and 
out  of  place  in  an  argument  which  should  have  been  wholl}?- 
intellectual,  without  any  mixture  of  the  practical  and  the 
economic.  It  may  be  so.  But  I  confess  an  irresistible  tempt- 
ation to  enter  on  a  walk  which  has  been  little  explored — I 
mean  the  rationale  of  a  missionary  operation,  as  connected 
with  and  grounded  on  the  self-evidencing  power  of  the  Bible. 
And  the  subject  is  not  the  less  inviting,  that  it  subserves  the 
vindication  both  of  a  home  and  a  foreign  missionary  enter- 
prise, so  as  ahke  to  philosophize  the  two  great  works  of 
our  day — that  of  extending  the  Church  at  our  own  doors, 
and  that  of  carrying  the  message  of  salvation  over  the 
whole  earth,  and  preaching  the  gospel  to  every  creature 
under  heaven. 

11.  Let  me,  also,  for  such  reasons  as  those  already  given, 
devolve  on  your  own  private  studies  all  the  topics  which 
occupy  the  fourth  and  last  book  of  my  work  upon  the 
Evidences.  The  first  chapter  treats  of  the  canon  of  Scrip- 
ture, where  you  will  observe,  that,  true  to  the  principle 
which  I  have  already  advocated  in  your  hearing,  even  the 
superior  authority  of  a  scriptural  to  an  exscriptural  writer, 
I  have  sought  within  the  Bible  itself,  for  the  chief  evidences 
of  the  canonicity  of  the  various  books  in  the  Old  Testament, 
instead  of  resting,  as  many  have  done,  the  whole  burden 
of  the  proof  on  the  testimony  of  authors  out  of  the  Bible. 
I  had  great  pleasure  in  tracing  the  references  downward 
from  the  Pentateuch  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  till  we  came  to  the  most  signal  and  conclusive 
demonstration  of  the  sacred  respect  in  which  the  whole  are 
held,  which  we  gather  from  the  quotations  and  from  the 
manner  in  which  they  are  spoken  of  by  Christ  and  His 
apostles.  I  honestly  believe,  that,  by  such  a  process  for 
the  establishment  of  the  canon,  you  lay  a  hundred-fold 
firmer  basis  on  which  to  rest  the  divinity  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  than  can  possibly  be  constructed  from  all  the 
materials  of  all  the  other  testimony  and  erudition  which 
have  been  brought  to  bear  upon  this  question.     The  canon- 


274  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

icity  of  the  New  Testament  rests,  we  admit,  on  a  different 
foundation — on  the  general  consent  ofthe  primitive  churches, 
and  the  numerous  attestations  which  can  be  gathered  from 
the  most  esteemed  Christian  Fathers  of  the  three  first 
centuries. 

12.  Let  me  next  entreat  your  special  attention  to  the 
views  I  have  brought  forward  on  the  inspiration  of  Sci'ip- 
ture.  I  have  only  to  offer  one  caution,  lest  on  this  subject 
you  should  be  misled  into  a  form  of  expression,  which  some 
of  pure  and  orthodox  sentiment  might  not  perhaps  be  alto-^ 
gether  prepared  for.  I  contend  for  the  optimism  of  the 
Bible,  which  is  really  tantamount  to  contending  for  its 
plenary  inspiration.  Only  I  will  not  affirm  positively,  in 
how  far  the  inspired  men  wrote  at  all  times  under  a  super- 
natural influence  ;  or  in  how  far  they  were  left,  each  to  the 
idiomatic  cast  and  peculiarity  of  his  own  genius.  That 
they  were  so  left  in  some  degree,  or  that  the  inspiring  force 
from  above  did  not  overbear  them  all  into  one  style  and 
manner  of  expression,  is  evident  from  the  characteristic 
varieties  which  obtain  between  the  different  writers — as 
between  Paul  and  John,  for  example,  where  the  difference 
is  as  palpable  as  between  Thucydides  and  Xenophon.  Still, 
however,  though  this  may  affect  the  question  of  the  modus 
operandi,  it  does  not  in  the  least  affect  the  question  of  the 
opus  operatum  as  being  altogether  perfect,  unerring,  infal- 
lible. This  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  an  advocacy  for 
plenary  inspiration ;  but  lest  you  should  be  misunderstood, 
when  you  affirm  the  possibility  of  the  authors  being  left,  in 
some  degree,  to  their  own  characteristic  and  constitutional 
idiosyncrasy  of  style  and  manner,  do  not  omit  to  say,  that 
it  is  only  a  question  in  how  far  God,  the  author  of  this 
Bible  and  of  every  word  in  it,  chooses  to  avail  Himself  of 
the  ordinary,  and  how  far  of  the  extraordinary  influences — 
all  of  which  are  at  his  own  perfect  command  and  disposal, 
and  that  therefore  however  this  question  be  determined,  or 
if  not  determined  at  all,  because  indeterminable,  still  the 
whole  Bible  is  "^eo-nvEvoToq,  and  the  ■deo-nvsvGTLa  is  as  com- 
plete, for  the  object  of  producing  an  absolutely  perfect  and 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  275 

ahogether  immaculate  Bible,  as  if  it  had  been  carried  the 
length  of  overbearing  all  the  human  peculiarities  of  tem- 
perament and  habit  and  genius,  by  which  the  different 
writers  both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  so 
obviously  characterized. 

13.  The  last  topic  to  which  I  would  direct  your  attention, 
is  one  that  I  have  scarcely  more  than  germinated  in  my 
third  chapter,  where  I  treat  of  the  internal  evidence  as  a 
criterion  for  the  canon  and  inspiration  of  Scripture.  I  say 
only  germinated,  for  I  think  this  a  subject  capable  of  being 
developed  or  expanded  into  many  most  important,  and  still 
unheard-of  applications — so  important  that  I  at  one  time 
meditated  the  appropriation  of  a  whole  week  in  our  session 
to  a  fuller  exposition  of  our  view^s.  But  this  I  cannot  afford, 
and  must  now  proceed  instanter  to  the  more  advanced 
parts  of  our  course. 


CHAPTER  VIIl. 

GENERAL   APPLICATION  OF  OUR  VIEWS  ON  THE   EVIDENCES 
OF  NATURAL  AND  REVEALED  RELIGION. 

1.  The  most  solid  foundation  for  a  natural  theology  we 
hold  to  be  the  manifestation  of  God  unto  the  conscience — 
of  which  manifestation,  however,  we  will  not  affirm  that 
the  great  truth  revealed  by  it  is  seen  by  us  in  the  light  of 
a  first  principle,  or  in  virtue  of  what  some  would  term  the 
intuitive  sense  of  a  Divinity  within  us.  We  rather  think 
that  the  felt  supremacy  of  conscience  is  the  first  object  of 
notice,  or  that  which  we  take  the  first  and  immediate  hold 
of;  and  that  by  the  rapid  inference  of  but  one  step,  there 
is  promptly  and  powerfully  suggested  the  idea,  and  not  the 
idea  only,  but  the  conviction  of  a  God.  The  sense  of  a 
master  faculty  in  the  soul,  and  which  is  throned  there  as 
the  arbiter  of  right  and  wrong,  conducts  us  from  the  feeHng 
of  a  law  in  the  heart,  to  the  faith  of  a  Judge  and  a  Law- 
giver who  placed  it  there — of  whose  existence  we  read  in 
the  felt  reality  of  conscience,  and  in  the  lessons  of  which 
conscience,  we  also  read  of  His  character  and  will.  We 
cannot,  therefore,  with  any  confidence  dogmatize  it  as  an 
article  of  ours,  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  an  innate  belief 
of  Deity — thinking  as  we  do  that  it  accords  better  with  the 
observed  order  of  the  human  faculties,  that,  instead  of  an 
original  and  instinctive  faith  we  shall  regard  it  as  the  result 
of  a  derivative  process,  so  quick,  it  may  be,  that  we  are 
sensible  neither  of  time  nor  of  succession  in  the  transition 
of  the  mind  from  its  premises  to  its  conclusion — yet  a  real 
transition  notwithstanding,  a  reasoning  upward  from  the 
effect  to  its  cause  ;  and,  as  the  result  of  this,  a  doctrine,  not 
fundamental  in  the  sense  of  its  being  first  known,  but  a 
doctrine  which  rests  on  a  previous  fact  or  finding,  being 
itself  reared  and  sustained  on  the  foundation  of  an  argu- 
mentum  a  posteriori. 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  277 

2.  But,  however  the  mental  philosophy  of  this  question 
may  be  settled,  one  thing  is  certain — that  the  natural  the- 
ology of  conscience  is  the  alone  natural  theology  of  the 
species  at  large,  and  the  only  one  which  can  be  turned  to 
great  and  general  account  in  practice,  or  is  of  much  influence 
in  the  business  of  the  pulpit.  The  theology  of  academic 
demonstration  should  seldom,  if  ever,  be  made  the  subject 
of  more  than  a  passing  notice  there;  and  that  chiefly  in 
words  ofremonstranceforthe  occasional  philosophic  hearers, 
when  trying  to  arouse  them  from  their  deep  indifference  to 
that  God,  of  whose  reality  even  the  science  which  them- 
selves so  much  idolize,  gives  such  striking  attestations. 
And  yet  should  this  take  effect,  it  will  but  throw  them  back 
on  the  theology  of  conscience,  which,  after  all,  forms  the 
main  staple  of  those  first  and  rudimental  lessons  in  which  a 
minister  should  deal.  Nor  is  it  a  theology  which  he  needs 
to  prove.  He  might  with  all  safety  proceed  upon  it.  He 
will  find  the  popular  mind  even  of  the  rudest  congregation 
pre-occupied  therewith,  and  in  a  state  of  readiness  and 
recipiency  for  any  right  demonstration  which  he  may  be 
pleased  to  ground  upon  it.  And  it  is  this  natural  theology, 
and  not  the  other,  which  brings  to  recognition  the  moral 
character  and  perfections  of  the  Deity  ;  which  invests  him 
with  the  high  state  and  sovereignty  of  a  Lawgiver ;  which 
has  to  do  with  jurisprudence,  as  founded  on  God's  rightful 
authority  over  the  creatures  whom  He  has  formed.  It  is 
thus  that  we  find  a  ready-made  inlet  both  to  the  fears  and 
the  consciences  of  the  people ;  and  that  when  we  speak  to 
them  of  guilt  and  of  danger,  and  of  a  righteous  God  who  is 
angry  with  sinners  every  day,  and  of  a  future  reckoning  at 
His  judgment-seat,  and  of  the  dread  vengeance  which  awaits 
the  impenitent  and  ungodly — it  is  not  a  strange  matter 
which  we  bring  to  their  ears,  nor  do  we  speak  to  them  in 
vocables  either  unfelt  or.  unknown. 

3.  But  we  must  not  let  any  single  object  monopolize  the 
whole  field  of  vision.  Some,  when  they  have  first  made 
discovery  of  this  natural  theology  of  conscience,  would 
forthwith  place  out  of  view  the  theology  which  is  grounded 


278  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

on  the  evidence  of  design,  as  manifested  in  the  laws  and 
dispositions   of  the  material   world.     To   make  the  room 
which  they  demand  for  their  own  idea,  they  not  only  would 
subordinate  all  others — they  would  dispossess  all  others ; 
and  thus  it  is,  that  in  a  certain  London  school,  there  is  now 
arising  a  sort  of  town- made  theology,  which  would  make 
no  account  of  the  philosophy  of  external  nature,  or  of  its 
contributions  to  the  cause  of  theism.     They  seem  to  contend 
that  the  primary  evidence  of  conscience  should  carry,  and 
that  exclusively,  our  belief  in  a  God.     In  this  they  are  not 
far  wrong  ;  but  wrong  they  most  assuredly  are  in  affirming 
the  utter  nullity  of  the  argument  from  design.    We  trust  to 
have  made  it  palpable  that  it  is  in  no  way  affected  by  the 
sophistries  of  Hume  ;  and  that  the  workmanship  of  nature 
affords  a  firm  experimental  basis  on  which  to  reason  for  the 
artificer  who  framed  it — serving  for  the  indication  of  a 
God,  and  not  merely  for  an  illustration  of  His  wisdom  and 
of  His  ways.     They  who  deny  this,  though  for  the  sake,  it 
may  be,  of  magnifying  one  evidence  at  the  expense  and  to 
the  disparagement  of  another,  would  in  fact  put  out  one  of 
the  lights  of  theology — a  lesser  light,  if  they  will,  but  suf- 
ficient to  challenge  the  consideration  of  all  physical  inquirers ; 
and  failing  this,  to  condemn  their  heedlessness  of  a  God. 
Yet  while  we  thus  contend  that  nature,  throughout  all  her 
departments,  teems  with  the  evidences  of  design  and  so  of 
a  Designer,  it  is  the  high  prerogative  of  conscience — not 
only  to  tell  us  first  of  the  existence  of  God,  but  to  be,  ante- 
rior to  revelation,  the  alone  informer  of  His  righteousness, 
and  so  the  alone  teacher  of  the  moral  relationship  in  which 
we  stand  to  Him.     We  most  willingly,  therefore,  award  to 
this  highest  faculty  of  our  nature  its  rightful  pre-eminence 
in  the  theology  of  nature — insomuch  that  to  its  lessons  the 
philosopher  as  well  as  the  peasant  must  at  length  come,  to 
learn  of  God,  as  the  Parent  and  Governor  of  the  human 
family.     Nay,  we  are  willing  that,  on  the  intimation  of 
conscience  alone,  the  question  of  His  existence  should  be 
held  as  determined ;  and  that  it  should  not  be  kept  in  abey- 
ance till  the  explorers  of  the  material  world  make  report  to 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  279 

US  of  their  discoveries,  and  tell  what  traces  or  what  man- 
ifestations they  have  found  in  their  respective  fields  of  ob- 
servation. We  hold  that  each  science  has  its  natural  the- 
ology;  and  that  each  teems,  not  only  with  specimens  of  the 
workmanship,  but  with  proofs  for  the  being  of  a  God.  But 
that  is  no  reason  why  we  should  be  constantly  laying  at 
this  foundation,  or  keeping  this  most  momentous  of  all  doc- 
trines perpetually  on  its  trial — and  that  too,  when,  with  a 
voice  so  audible,  and  a  light  so  overpowering,  even  at  the 
earliest  stages  of  a  man's  mental' and  moral  history — this  is 
a  truth  which  has  been  already  given  to  him.  We  are, 
therefore,  most  abundantly  willing  that  man  should  go  forth 
upon  nature,  not  now  in  quest  of  a  God,  but  pre-occupied 
with  a  full  sense  and  conviction  of  His  reality — knowing 
Him,  and  that  with  an  assurance  which  requires  no  argu- 
mentative addition,  to  be  the  Author  and  Artificer  of  this 
goodly  universe ;  and  making  a  study  of  Him  there,  not  to 
learn  of  His  existence?  but  to  learn  of  His  ways — just  as 
we  should  make  study  of  a  volume,  not  to  verify  its  author- 
ship, but  to  ascertain  the  mind  and  manner  of  its  author, 
and  to  acquire  the  lessons  of  that  work  which  had  issued 
from  his  hands. 

4.  Now  to  us  there  seems  an  analogy  or  a  counterpart 
to  all  this  in  the  evidences  of  Christianity.  For,  first,  if 
there  be  enough  in  the  human  conscience  to  insure  a 
reception  for  the  doctrines  of  the  natural,  there  seems  also 
enough  to  insure  a  reception  for  the  doctrines  of  the  re- 
vealed theology.  For  the  truth  of  both,  we  believe,  there 
is  a  way  to  the  consciences  of  men.  If  in  the  one  case  the 
doctrine  of  a  God,  simply  on  being  propounded  and  without 
any  formal  attempt  to  prove  it,  can  find,  as  it  were,  an 
access  for  itself  to  the  innermost  convictions  of  a  man's 
spirit,  the  same  holds  of  the  doctrine  of  a  Saviour.  We 
might  work  the  faith  of  the  gospel  in  the  minds  of  others, 
though  we  should  deal  only  with  the  subject-matter  and 
never  once  advert  to  its  credentials — or  rather  in  the  ex- 
hibition of  this  subject-matter,  its  best  and  highest  creden- 
tials might  become  patent  to  the  eye  of  an  observer,  and  in 


230  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

virtue  of  its  own  self-evidencing  power,  his  convictions 
might  be  carried.  We  have  repeatedly  affirmed  in  your 
hearing,  that  of  all  the  evidences,  this,  in  our  estimation,  is 
the  one  of  first-rate  quality ;  and  that  mainly  to  its  efficacy 
do  we  look  for  the  Christianization  of  the  people.  To  us  it 
is  a  contemplation  big  with  interest,  that  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  right  and  rational  belief,  whether  in  the  doctrines 
of  the  natural  or  the  revealed  theology,  we  have  a  direct 
highway  through  the  consciences  of  the  people ;  and  that 
within  the  homestead  of  their  own  bosoms  there  are  such 
vouchers  for  the  truth,  as  that  the  bare  statement  of  it  may 
carry  not  their  blind,  but  their  enlightened  acquiescence — 
and  this  without  the  aid  either  of  logical  or  historical  de- 
monstrations. Yet  it  follows  not  that  we  should  undervalue 
these,  whether  the  argument  from  design  for  the  existence 
of  a  God,  or  the  argument  from  history  for  the  truth  of  the 
Christian  miracJes,  and  so  for  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
religion.  Each  of  these  arguments  has  a  force  and  a  most 
important  practical  function  of  its  own — the  former,  if  not 
to  make  an  atheist  pious,  at  least  to  condemn  his  atheism  ; 
the  latter,  if  not  to  make  an  infidel  a  faithful  follower  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  at  least  to  condemn  his  infidelity.  We 
believe  that,  in  either  case,  it  is  only  the  evidence  which 
passes  through  the  organ  of  conscience  that  tells  personally 
and  influentially  on  the  heart  or  character  of  man — so  as  in 
the  first  instance  to  make  him  feel  duteously  towards  God, 
and  in  the  second  instance,  either  to  awaken  a  concern  for 
his  soul,  or  to  make  him  feel  desirously  after  its  salvation. 
But  that  is  no  reason  why  all  other  evidence  must  therefore 
be  discarded,  whether  the  argument  of  final  causes,  or  the 
historical  argument  for  the  truth  of  Christianity.  Of  the 
latter,  more  especially,  it  has  been  long  our  opinion  that  an 
historical  demonstration  of  the  reality  of  the  Christian  mir- 
acles should  still  do  at  present  what  the  actual  and  ocular 
exhibition  of  them  either  did  or  ought  to  have  done  in  the 
days  of  the  apostles.  Even  then  the  sight  of  miracles  did 
not  of  itself  convert  or  Christianize  men,  any  more  than  the 
record  of  them,  however  strong  or  satisfying  its  credentials, 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  281 

can  of  itself  do  now.  But  there  is  one  thing  which  it  both 
should  and  can  do.  The  sight  of  the  miracles  then  should 
at  the  very  least  have  secured  a  respectful  attention  for 
what  the  apostles  said  ;  and  the  proof  of  these  miracles 
now,  should  secure  the  same  respectful  attention  for  what 
the  apostles  have  written.  In  either  case  the  subject-matter 
of  Christianity  is  brought  into  immediate  contact  with  the 
mind  of  the  inquirer ;  and  then  it  is  that  the  converting 
evidence  comes  into  play,  or  that  evidence  which  worketh 
the  faith  that  is  unto  salvation.  They  are  only  the  creden- 
tials within  the  book  which  are  of  prevailing  force  to  make 
the  intent  reader  a  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus;  but  they  are 
the  credentials  without  the  book  which  point  the  inquirer's 
way  to  this  sacred  volume,  and  should  be  of  prevailing 
force  to  fix  his  attention  on  that  word ;  whereunto,  if  he 
give  earnest  heed,  the  day  will  dawn  and  the  day-star  arise 
in  his  heart.  Such  then  is  the  high  and  important  function 
of  the  historical  evidence,  and  we  are  therefore  unwilling 
to  give  it  up — -just  as  unwilling  as  to  give  up  the  argument 
of  design  in  natural  theology.  It  is  of  all  others  the  best 
adapted  to  the  philosophical  habitudes  of  our  day — as 
serving  to  indicate,  and  by  a  process  of  sound  derivative 
observation  to  certify  the  facts  of  a  religion  which  professes 
to  be  founded  upon  fact ;  and  which,  therefore,  the  wor- 
shipers of  modern  science  cannot,  but  by  a  traversal  of 
their  own  principles,  with  incredulity  turn  from.  We  do 
not  say  that  if  they  stop  short  and  refuse  to  read  the  Bible, 
even  after  it  has  been  irresistibly  proved  on  historic  grounds 
to  be  a  written  message  from  heaven  to  earth — this  proof 
will  have  the  effect  to  convert  them  ;  but  it  will  have  the 
effect  to  condemn  them,  because  they  do  stop  short,  and 
because  this  book,  of  far  the  brightest  and  highest  creden- 
tials among  all  within  the  compass  of  bygone  authorship, 
has  been  suffered  to  remain  unread  and  unopened  by  them. 
We  are  sensible  that  to  have  the  belief  which  saves  the 
soul,  the  proudest  of  our  philosophers  is  on  a  level  with  the 
homeliest  of  our  peasants,  and  must  drink  in  truth  at  the 
same  fountain-head — that  is,  immediately  at  the  fountain- 


282  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

head  of  inspiration.  But  that  is  no  reason  why  we  should 
turn  with  disdain  from  the  historical  evidence,  which,  to  the 
eye  of  scholars,  is  the  most  direct  and  legible  of  all  those 
evidences  that  lead  to  the  Bible,  as  an  authentic  and  au- 
thoritative record  of  the  will  of  God.  We  cannot  be  indif- 
ferent to  an  argument,  the  best  fitted  to  tell  on  the  compar- 
atively few,  it  may  be,  but  these  the  highest  class  of  thinkers 
in  our  land — and  either  to  overbear  them,  should  they 
venture  to  assert  the  cause  of  infidelity  on  the  field  of  lit- 
erary debate ;  or  better  still,  to  propitiate  their  friendship 
for  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  secure  the  benefit  of  an 
example  which  might  operate  with  salutary  and  wide-spread 
influence  on  society  at  large. 

5.  It  will  at  once  be  seen,  however,  that  this  is  not  an 
argument  for  the  pulpit,  where  it  is  your  proper  office  to 
bring  the  Word  of  God  to  bear  immediately  on  human 
consciences.  The  great  use  of  the  historical  evidence  is, 
that  it  shuts  men  up  to  the  reading  of  their  Bibles — an 
exercise  again,  which,  if  honestly  and  prayerfully  gone 
through,  will  shut  them  up  unto  the  faith.  The  study  of 
the  one  brings  them  within  sight  of  the  subject-matter  of 
Christianity  ;  but  it  is  only  in  the  study  of  this  subject-mat- 
ter that  they  come  within  sight  of  those  things  which  tell 
with  convincing  and  converting  energy  on  the  soul  of  man. 
There  are  some  who  must  be  satisfied  with  the  credentials 
of  the  messenger  ere  they  will  hear  the  message;  but  they 
who  come  to  church  have  placed  themselves  already  with- 
in the  hearing  of  it,  where  surely  the  business  on  hand  is 
to  set  forth  not  the  messengers  but  the  message,  and  all 
the  more  that  it  bears  within  itself  the  evidence  of  its  own 
truthfulness — that  too  being  the  only  evidence  which  gives 
the  faith  that  is  unto  salvation.  It  were  surely  preposter- 
ous to  attempt  the  doing  of  that  mediately  which  might  be 
done  immediately — or  to  try  an  evidence  which  is  placed 
at  the  distance  of  at  least  one  remove  from  the  human  con- 
science, when  in  circumstances  for  wielding  the  evidence 
at  first  hand,  which  comes  into  juxtaposition  therewith. 
This  consideration  is  decisive  with  the  great  majority  of 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  283 

congregations,  where  they  are  but  the  few  who  have  the  edu- 
cation or  the  leisure  for  the  prosecution  of  the  historical  or 
literary  argument.  But  even  for  these  few,  it  were  a  most 
absurd  preference  of  the  remote  and  the  secondary  to  the 
primary  and  the  direct,  to  deliver  a  sermon  on  the  bearers  of 
the  divine  communication,  where  by  preaching  on  the  sub- 
stance of  it,  you  bring  at  once  the  self-evidencing  power 
into  operation,  and  thus  open  a  way  for  the  truth  and  the 
authority  of  God's  own  voice. 

6.  But  it  is  even  not  your  business  in  the  pulpit  to  ex- 
patiate on  the  virtues  of  this  self-evidencing  power,  or  on 
the  rationale  of  its  influence  and  effect  over  the  convictions 
of  men.  That  is  my  business,  not  yours.  To  you  belongs 
the  executive  task,  not  of  theorizing  on  this  internal  evi- 
dence, but  of  pntting  it  into  actual  operation.  Be  assured 
that  you  might  be  as  unintelligible  to  the  great  mass  of 
your  hearers  in  describing  the  process  of  their  understand- 
ings, when  by  means  of  the  internal  evidence  they  come  to 
discern,  and  discern  rightly,  that  God  is  in  the  Scriptures, 
of  a  truth — as  if  you  described  to  them  Berkeley's  Theory 
of  Vision,  which  assigns,  and  with  perfect  justness,  all  the 
footsteps  of  that  procedure  by  which  the  homeliest  peasant 
judges  on  the  evidence  of  his  outward  senses,  and  with  as 
great  accuracy  as  does  the  most  accomplished  philosopher, 
of  magnitudes  and  distances  in  the  perspective  before  him. 
Now,  it  is  almost  as  little  a  theme  for  the  pulpit  to  philoso- 
phize on  the  former  as  it  is  to  philosophize  on  the  latter  of 
these  two  processes — on  the  method  or  law  of  the  spiritual, 
as  on  the  method  or  law  of  the  sensible  vision.  Your  pro- 
per and  precise  employment  is  not  to  explain  the  process, 
but  to  set  it  working.  Your  office  is  not  to  describe,  but 
to  stimulate  this  operation.  Here  we  may  have  to  do 
with  its  rationale — there  what  you  have  to  do  with  is  the 
execution  of  it.  We  do  not  say  that  by  any  agency  of 
yours  you  can  achieve  the  whole  of  this  great  fulfillment — 
that  is,  the  translation  of  the  mind  of  any  hearer  from  dark- 
ness to  the  marvelous  light  of  the  gospel.  Nevertheless, 
you  bear  a  certain,  and  generally  speaking,  an  indispensa- 


284  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ble  part  in  it ;  and  that  is  simply  the  presentation  of  those 
truths,  which,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  when  rightly  seen, 
or  rightly  apprehended,  are  of  power  so  to  enlighten  as  to 
sanctify  and  save  the  soul.  We  say,  with  the  blessing  of 
God ;  for  while  it  is  your  task  to  place  the  doctrines  of 
His  word  within  view  of  .the  people,  it  is  His  Spirit  who 
opens  their  hearts  to  attend  to  them,  opens  their  eyes  to 
behold  them,  opens  their  understandings  to  understand 
them;  and  all  so  as  that  the  gospel  enters  into  their  minds 
with  power,  and  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  much  as- 
surance. In  other  words,  your  function,  as  a  fellow-work- 
er with  God,  is  to  preach  this  gospel.  It  is  to  cast  the  seed 
into  the  ground,  which  groweth  up,  you  know  not  how — 
just  as  little,  it  may  be,  as  the  sower  knoweth  of  physiology, 
or  the  secret  processes  of  vegetation.  What  you  have  to 
deal  with  is  the  subject-matter  of  Christianity ;  and  your 
proper  care,  as  faithful  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God, 
is  to  see  that  the  things  which  are  written  pass  without 
change  or  injury  from  the  Bible  to  the  pulpit,  where  they 
become  in  your  mouth  the  things  which  are  spoken.  Your 
part  is  to  cast  them  abroad  among  the  people,  and  to  look 
for  those  showers  of  grace  from  on  high  which  penetrate 
the  soil  of  the  heart,  and  by  a  process  there  to  you  untrace- 
able, and  which  it  is  not  at  all  your  province  to  describe, 
cause  the  fruits  of  righteousness  to  spring  up  abundantly. 

7.  It  is  thus,  in  fact,  that  every  man  ought  to  proceed, 
whether  it  be  the  aim  to  make  good  his  own  Christianity 
or  the  Christianity  of  others.  The  Bible  is  the  instrument 
that  he  works  by — the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  agent  whom  he 
seeks  to ;  and  by  dint  of  earnest  study  on  the  one  hand, 
and  earnest  supplication  on  the  other,  light  out  of  darkness 
is  made  to  arise  upon  his  soul  ;  yet  not  a  light,  as  we  have 
already  said,  without  evidence,  but  a  light  by  evidence  ; 
and  in  virtue  of  which,  his  is  a  rational  and  intelligent 
faith- — recommending  itself  to  the  natural  faculties  of  ob- 
servation and  consciousness,  even  though  a  supernatural 
Being  has  had  to  do  with  the  production  of  it.  We  shall 
not  repeat  the  explanations  that  we  have  given  of  this  pro- 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  285 

cess,  but  would  rather  found  upon  it  that  most  fruitful  of 
all  advices  in  the  study  of  divinity — a  prayerful  reading  of 
the  Bible — the  only  sure  and  direc-t  way  by  which  each 
might  verify  the  process  in  his  own  experience.  It  is  on 
this  consideration  that  I  have  not  recommended  a  great 
amount  or  variety  of  reading  on  the  external  evidence  for 
the  truth  of  Scripture.  I  have  only  specified  a  few  books 
upon  the  subject ;  but  those  who  have  a  decided  aptitude 
or  taste  for  this  walk  of  professional  literature,  will  easily 
find  their  way  to  the  requisite  authorship  by  which  to 
prosecute  and  extend  it.  My  wish,  I  confess,  is  that  your 
chief  study  should  be  in  the  book,  rather  than  about  the 
book;  and  that  ample  room  should  be  left  for  the  more 
prolific  of  these  two  studies — when  by  one  and  the  same 
effort  your  mind  is  brought  into  converse  or  juxtaposition, 
both  with  the  contents  of  the  message,  and  with  the  very 
best  and  most  satisfying  of  its  credentials.  You  know  that 
I  want  all  of  you  to  be  acquainted,  and  some  of  you  to  be 
singularly  and  superlatively  accomplished  in  the  whole 
scholarship  of  the  Christian  evidences — and  that  in  order 
to  strengthen  the  bulwarks  of  the  Church,  or  for  the  pur- 
pose of  your  holding  argument,  whether  for  defense  or 
conviction,  with  its  adversaries  and  aliens  of  all  classes. 
But  I  want  none  of  you  so  to  linger  at  the  threshold  as  to 
remain  without,  strangers  to  the  glories  of  the  inner  tem- 
ple ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  you  should  tarry  at  the  pre- 
cincts of  the  sacred  volume,  and  meanwhile  keep  aloof 
from  those  doctrines  which  announce  both  their  own  truth 
and  their  own  preciousness.  However  humbling  it  may 
be  to  the  pride  of  science,  we  will  not  disguise  the  truth, 
that  for  any  saving  influence,  you  get  at  your  faith  in  the 
very  way  in  which  the  homeliest  peasant  gets  at  his,  even 
though  he  should  have  received  the  impulse  to  his  Bible  under 
the  parental  roof,  and  you  should  have  received  it  within  the 
walls  of  a  university.  You  begin  upon  equal  terms  ;  or, 
rather,  if  he  entered  on  the  habit  which  I  now  recommend 
at  the  commencement  of  his  boyhood,  and  you  only  enter 
upon  it  now,  he  has  the  advantage  of  an  earlier  outset  on 


286  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  right  path  which  guides  to  that  knowledge  of  God  and 
of  Jesus  Christ  that  is  Ufe  everlasting.  But  I  have  no  rea- 
son to  presume  that  the  Bible  has  not  been  your  daily  com- 
panion ^s  long  as  it  has  been  his  ;  and  all  I  want  to  impress 
upon  you  is,  that  the  scholarship  of  a  college  should  never 
lead  you  to  slight  or  to  slacken  that  humbler,  it  may  be 
thought,  but  still  that  right  and  religious  and  only  produc- 
tive scholarsriip  which  is  common  to  you  both,  and  in  the 
prosecution  of  which  it  is  that  both  are  in  the  like  favorable 
circumstances  for  becoming  wise  unto  salvation.  It  is  the 
Spirit  shining  upon  the  word  which  illuminates  the  soul  of 
each  of  these  inquirers — the  fruit  of  their  earnest  perusals 
and  their  earnest  prayers. 

8.  And  what  is  true  of  the  process  by  which  to  make 
good  our  own  Christianity,  is  alike  true  of  the  process  by 
which  to  make  good  the  Christianity  of  others — the  special 
office  of  clergymen.  On  this  subject  we  are  not  aware  of 
a  more  instructive  passage  in  the  whole  Bible  than  is  the 
brief  utterance  made  by  the  apostles,  when,  under  the  feel- 
ing that  it  was  not  for  them  to  leave  the  word  of  God  and 
to  serve  tables,  they  resigned  into  the  hands  of  deacons, 
the  care  and  management  of  those  alms  which  had  been 
contributed  for  the  poor.  Their  saying  pleased  the"  whole 
multitude;  but  the  part  of  their  saying  of  w^eightiest  appli- 
cation to  our  present  argument  is,  that  "  we  will  give  our- 
selves wholly  to  prayer  and  to  the  ministry  of  the  word." 
What  we  lay  our  chief  stress  upon  is  the  co-ordinate  im- 
portance given  to  these  two  things,  preaching  and  prayer. 
Both  are  indispensable.  It  is  the  word  of  God,  and  nothing 
else,  deposited  in  the  heart,  which  germinates  the  faith  that 
is  unto  salvation — even  as  it  is  the  seed,  to  which  the  word 
has  been  compared,  and  nothing  else,  deposited  in  the  soil, 
that  germinates  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  But  just  as  in  the 
economy  of  the  world  there  can  be  no  natural  vegetation 
without  the  descent  of  rain  from  the  heaVens — so  in  the 
economy  of  grace  there  can  be  no  spiritual  vegetation 
without  the  descent  of  living  water  from  on  high.  For 
the  one  essential  element  of  this  operation — that  is,  the 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  287 

word — there  must  be  preaching ;  for  the  other  essential 
element  there  must  be  prayer — an  expedient  alike  avail- 
able, whether  for  our  own  Christianity  or  that  of  others. 
If  for  our  own,  then  are  we  told  that  God  giveth  His  Holy 
Spirit  to  them  who  ask  it ;  if  for  others,  then  are  we  told 
that  God  willeth  intercessions  to  be  made  for  all  men,  and 
on  the  express  ground,  too,  that  He  willeth  all  men  to  be 
saved  and  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

9.  We  trust  you  already  perceive  that  the  agency  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  production  of  saving  faith  does  not  supersede 
the  law  of  evidence  in  the  mind  of  the  hearer,  or  that  law 
which  binds  together  his  resulting  conviction  with  its  proxi- 
mate cause  in  the  proof  or  argument  which  went  before  it. 
But  we  go  further  and  say,  that  neither  does  this  doctrine 
of  the  Spirit  supersede  the  law  or  method  of  demonstration 
on  the  part  of  the  speaker,  or  exempt  him  from  the  duty 
of  selecting  and  arranging  so  those  topics  of  Scripture  in 
which  he  is  to  deal  as  to  make  a  right  and  orderly  distri- 
bution of  this  argument.  We  must  deal  with  scriptural  as 
we  should  with  natural  reasons — that  is,  deal  with  them 
logically.  We  must  study  the  fitness  of  this  one  and  that 
other  doctrine  in  the  objective  revelation,  to  this  one  and 
that  other  state  of  the  subjective  mind,  in  the  hearers  whom 
we  address.  Some,  says  the  apostle  Jude,  save  with  fear 
— that  is,  if  there  be  any  stout-hearted  sinner  in  the  con- 
gregation, shake  him  out  of  his  hardihood  by  the  terrors  of 
the  law.  Of  others,  he  says,  have  compassion,  making  a 
difference — that  is,  if  there  be  a  contrite  or  trembling  peni- 
tent amongst  them,  ply  him  in  all  tenderness  with  the  gos- 
pel offers  of  reconciliation.  It  is  most  true  that  the  Spirit 
alone  gives  effect  to  all  our  teaching,  and  yet  there  is  a 
better  and  a  worse  method  of  teaching,  notwithstanding ; 
and  just  as  much  as  there  is  a  best  way  of  propounding  to 
scholars  the  lessons  of  any  science,  so  there  is  a  best  way 
of  propounding  to  its  disciples,  according  to  the  capacities 
and  the  progress  of  each,  the  lessons  of  Christianity. 

10.  Let  me  therefore  specify  what  these  lessons  are,  at 
least  such  of  them  as  are  of  most  vital  importance—and 


288  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

with  some  regard,  too,  to  the  order  in  which  they  succeed 
each  other,  or  to  the  relation  which  they  bear  either  to  dif- 
ferent states  of  mind,  or  different  stages  of  inquiry.  We 
are  fully  persuaded  of  these  lessons,  that  in  virtue  of  an 
inherent  evidence  they  are  able  to  work  out  the  manifesta- 
tion of  their  own  truth  to  the  consciences  of  hearers ;  and 
that  thus  the  business  of  the  pulpit  might  be  made  to  ex- 
emplify the  demonstrations  of  the  class-room.  We  hold  it 
therefore  our  most  appropriate  concluding  effort,  to  point 
out  the  connection  between  the  theory,  if  it  may  be  so 
called,  which  has  been  propounded  here*  and  its  corre- 
sponding verification  in  your  practice  hereafter;  or  be- 
tween the  lessons  of  our  professorial  course,  and  the  future 
experience  which  awaits  you  as  ministers  of  the  gospel. 

11.  Let  me  intimate  in  one  brief  sentence  the  first  and 
earliest  state  of  recipiency  in  which  you  will  find  even  the 
rudest  and  most  unfurnished  of  your  hearers.  Each  has  a 
conscience,  with  a  sense  of  God  and  His  law ;  and  each 
has  a  consciousness,  with  a  sense  of  guilt,  because  of  defi- 
ciency therefrom.  On  this  rudimental  stage,  if  it  may  be 
so  called,  of  the  religious  scholarship,  both  the  light  of  na- 
ture and  the  light  of  revelation  shed  their  concurrent  attest- 
ations ;  and  if  the  Spirit  interpose,  whose  office  it  is  to 
convince  of  sin.  He  can  both  arm  the  denunciations  of 
Scripture  with  greater  force  and  fearfulness  to  the  sinner's 
ear,  and  tell  him  more  emphatically  than  ever  the  deep 
ungodliness  of  his  own  heart — not  inscribing  aught  that  is 
new  either  on  the  outer  or  the  inner  tablet,  but  making  the 
characters  of  both  stand  forth  more  brightly  and  legibly  to 
the  view  of  the  inquirer.  With  such  an  instrument,  in  the 
hands  of  such  an  agent — with  such  a  doctrine  to  preach 
and  such  a  Spirit  to  pray  for,  you  are  in  a  state  of  full 
equipment  for  subduing  the  people  under  you ;  and  those 
of  them  who  listen  as  they  ought,  and  feel  as  they  ought, 
are  in  a  state  of  full  preparation  for  this  great  initial  lesson 
of  the  Christian  discipleship.  You  may  proceed  therefore 
at  once  to  tell  them  of  an  angry  God  and  an  undone  eter- 
nity, and  of  a  sentence  from  which,  under  the  just  and  un- 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  2SJ 

changeable  government  of  Him  v^^ho  wields  the  scepter  of 
the  universe,  and  is  Lord  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,  there  is 
no  escaping ;  and  of  the  high  authority  of  Heaven's  law, 
and  the  dignity  and  sacredness  of  Heaven's  throne.  Know- 
ing these  terrors  of  the  Lord,  your  work,  and  a  work  on 
which  you  might  enter  at  once  or  from  the  very  commence- 
ment of  your  ministry,  is  to  persuade  men. 

12.  But  though  you  begin  thus,  you  do  not  end  thus. 
Yours  is  not  a  message  of  despair,  but  of  glad  tidings  and 
of  great  joy.  It  may  be  right  to  alarm,  but  this  only  to 
excite  inquiry  and  desire  after  a  place  of  escape  and  safety. 
It  may  be  right  to  warn  your  spiritual  patients  of  their  dis- 
ease, but  this  that  they  may  be  led  to  welcome  the  great 
and  only  Physician.  The  same  sermon  might  give  forth  a 
demonstration  of  both,  or  one  sermon  may  prescribe  the 
cure,  while  another  prepares  both  for  the  reception  and 
the  operation  of  it.  There  are  in  the  science  of  salvation, 
if  I  may  thus  speak,  as  in  all  other  subjects  and  sciences^ 
there  are  the  elementary  lessons  which  guide  and  qualify 
for  the  lessons  of  a  higher  discipleship.  Accordingly,  we 
are  told  that  the  law  is  a  schoolmaster  for  bringing  unto 
Christ.  There  should  therefore  be  the  preaching  of  the 
law  as  well  as  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  Neither  should 
be  neglected  by  any  minister ;  though  with  that  usual  di- 
versity of  gifts  which  is  observable  both  in  the  economy  of 
nature  and  of  grace,  one  may  be  better  qualified  for  the 
first,  and  so  be  a  Boanerges,  or  son  of  thunder,  another 
may  be  better  qualified  for  the  second,  and  so  be  a 
Barnabas,  or  son  of  consolatio-n.  And  thus  might  we 
recognize  in  every  Christian  Church  some  whose  peculiar 
talent  it  is  to  arouse  and  to  convince,  and  some  whose  pe- 
culiar talent  it  is  to  heal  and  to  convert ;  and,  to  give  but 
one  specimen  more  of  this  variety,  some  who  have  acquired 
their  experience  and  skill  in  the  more  advanced  stages  of 
this  Christian  education,  and  whose  special  faculty  it  i-s  to 
build  up  or  to  edify.  There  are  distinct  functions  or  de- 
partments in  this  work  of  spiritual  architecture ;  and  had 
we  as  many  distinct  functionaries  as  functions,  which  we 
VOL.  vn. — N 


290-  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

have  not,  then  should  we  be  able  to  point  out  him  who 
planteth  and  him  who  watereth — the  man  who  can  break 
whole  hearts,  and  the  man  who  can  heal  broken  ones — the 
wise  master-builder  who  lays  the  foundation,  the  laborer 
who  succeeds  and  who  builds  thereupon. 

13.  But  my  present  subject  is  not  the  right  constitution 
for  a  Church,  or  what  ought  to  be  the  variety  of  its  labor- 
ers— it  is  to  let  you  know  what  is  the  actual  variety  of 
your  future  labors,  and  in  the  prosecution  of  which  you 
will  find,  that,  to  meet  all  the  essential  lessons  in  which 
you  deal,  there  may,  even  with  the  homeliest  and  most 
unlettered  of  your  hearers,  be  a  conscience  to  own  and  a 
capacity  to  receive  them.  I  have  already  affirmed  this  of 
the  lesson  that  they  are  great  sinners,  and  the  same  we 
affirm  as  confidently  of  the  lesson  that  Christ  is  a  great 
Saviour.  There  is,  however,  this  distinction  between  the 
two — that  whereas  for  convincing  them  of  sin,  they  have 
both  a  conscience  which  could  tell  them  what  sin  is,  and  a 
consciousness  which  could  tell  that  themselves  are  sinners  ; 
and  thus,  with  their  previous  knowledge  both  of  the  object^; 
ive  and  the  subjective,  they  can  recognize  the  accordance 
between  what  the  Bible  says  they  are,  and  what  they  find 
themselves  to  be — they  have  no  such  previous  knowledge 
of  the  objective  Jesus  Christ,  as  might  help  them  to  under- 
stand the  fitness  or  power  of  His  mediatorship  for  their 
salvation.  The  doctrine  of  Christ  and  of  Him  crucified 
was  a  complete  novelty  to  the  world ;  yet  novelty  though 
it  is,  there  is  a  counterpart  something  in  the  human  spirit 
to  meet  and  to  answer  it.  The  sinner  could  never  have 
devised  or  discovered  such  a  method  of  salvation ;  but  after 
it  is  proposed,  he  might  discern,  and  that  with  the  most 
vivid  of  all  perceptions,  for  he  might  feel,  its  perfect  adapt- 
ation to  the  urgent  sense  that  is  within  him  of  the  necessi- 
ties of  his  moral  nature  ;  and  thus,  although  food  had  been 
a  novelty,  yet  when  presented  for  the  first  time  to  the  man 
in  want  of  it,  his  hunger  would  lead  him  to  appropriate, 
and  thus  to  experience,  the  virtue  it  had  to  relieve  and  to 
sustain  him.     So  may  the  bread  of  life  which  came  down 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  291 

from  heaven  draw  the  soul  towards  it,  of  him  who,  laboring 
under  the  burden  of  his  guilt,  now  hungers  and  thirsts  after 
righteousness. 

14.  It  is  thus  that  conscience  has  to  do  not  only  with 
the  doctrine  of  sin,  but  with  the  doctrine  of  a  Saviour. 
There  is  a  felt  harmony  between  the  objective  and  the  sub- 
jective in  both.  If  with  the  one,  the  truth  of  Scripture 
have  its  vouchers  and  its  recommendations  in  the  heart  of 
man  when  convinced  of  what  he  is — with  the  other,  the 
truth  of  Scripture  has  its  vouchers  and  its  recommenda- 
tions also  in  the  heart  of  man  when  convinced  of  what  he 
needs  :  and  the  intervention  of  the  Spirit  is  as  much  called 
for  in  the  latter  as  in  the  former  manifestation.  It  is  He 
who  takes  of  the  things  of  Christ,  which  are  the  things 
that  the  Bible  tells  of  Christ,  and  shows  them  unto  the  soul 
— ^just  as  it  is  He  also  who  makes  known  to  the  soul  its 
guilt  and  its  nakedness.  It  is  then  that  the  blood  of  Christ 
is  felt  to  be  that  which  is  precisely  suited  to  it,  and  the 
sacrifice  of  a  divine  High-priest  to  be  the  only  adequate  sat- 
isfaction for  the  sin  committed  against  a  divine  Lawgiver. 
It  is  in  the  believing  contemplation  of  this  great  article  of 
our  faith,  that  the  misgivings  of  conscience  are  appeased, 
and  God  maintains  the  sacredness  of  His  character  even 
in  the  act  of  passing  by  the  transgressions  of  His  rebellious 
children.  The  same  spirit  who  before  convinced  of  sin 
now  convinces  of  righteousness,  and  the  peace  of  the  sin- 
ner is  laid  on  a  secure  foundation,  when  freed  from  His 
guilty  fears.  He  is  made  to  see  that  God  is  just  while  the 
justifier  of  them  who  believe  in  Jesus. 

15.  This  should  be  the  grand  theme  of  your  ministra- 
tions, and  so  much  was  it  the  capital  figure  in  his  scheme 
of  doctrine,  that  Paul  said  to  one  of  his  churches,  that  he 
was  determined  to  know  nothing  amongst  them,  save 
Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified.  The  great  initial  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  our  being  right  with  God — the  knot  of  diffi- 
culty which  has  to  be  untied — the  separating  barrier,  and 
what  stands  as  a  wall  of  iron  between  us  and  our  recon- 
cilliation,  is — -How  shall  I,  a  sinner,  find  acceptance  with  a 


292  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

God  of  justice  ?  This,  if  not  at  all  times  the  formally  utter- 
ed, is  the  universally  felt  complaint  of  conscious  and  guilty 
nature ;  and  this,  we  repeat,  can  only  be  met  and  only  be 
satisfied,  by  the  setting  forth  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  pro- 
pitiation for  the  sins  of  the  world.  It  is  this  which  resolves 
the  question — Wherewithal  shall  I  appear  before  God? 
You  appear  in  the  name  of  Christ — with  His  death  as  your 
discharge  from  condemnation,  and  His  righteousness  as 
your  right  to  the  rewards  of  eternity.  It  is  thus  that  He 
is  offered,  even  to  the  chief  of  sinners  ;  and  it  is  your  clos- 
ing with  this  offer  which  forms  the  turning  point  of  your 
salvation.  On  the  part  of  God  it  is  freely  held  out  to  you ; 
on  your  part  it  is  simply  laid  hold  of.  I  wish  I  could  ade- 
quately express  the  naked  simplicity  of  this  transaction. 
It  is  a  statement  on  His  part ;  it  is  a  belief  on  yours.  It  is 
a  gift  on  His  part ;  it  is  an  acceptance  on  yours.  Like  the 
lifting  up  of  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  it  is  the  present- 
ation of  an  object  on  His  part ;  it  is  a  looking  to  that  ob- 
ject upon  yours.  It  is  a  call  or  invitation  on  His  part ;  it 
is  a  compliance  upon  yours.  On  His  part  it  is  a  promise, 
on  yours  it  is  a  trusting  in  the  performance  of  it.  No  sin- 
ner needs  be  afraid  of  trusting  too  strongly,  for  the  firmer 
the  confidence  on  his  part,  the  surer  will  be  the  counter- 
part fulfillment  on  the  part  of  God,  who,  now  that  the  great 
expiation  has  been  rendered,  can,  without  disparagement  to 
the  law,  extend  full  indem.nity  to  them  who  have  broken  it, 
can  be  just  whilst  the  justifier  of  Him  who  believes  in  Jesus. 
16.  You  have  so  to  deal  with  your  people  as  to  gain 
them  over  to  this  simple  credence  in  the  averments  of  the 
gospel.  It  is  the  very  simplicity  of  such  a  faith  which 
forms  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  conceiving  it.  The  legal 
spirit  of  man  feels  all  its  tendencies  traversed,  and  so  does 
not  readily  coalesce  with  this  method  of  salvation.  The 
embassador  from  Syria  thought  it  too  meager  a  prescrip- 
tion for  his  leprosy  to  bathe  in  the  waters  of  Jordan  ;  and 
such  too  is  the  feeling  of  many  an  inquirer,  when  told  to 
wash  out  his  sins  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  He  wants  to 
obtain   his   qualification    for   heaven   in   a   more   operose 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  293 

way,  than  by  a  simple  faith  in  a  simple  testimony  to 
believe  and  live.  In  all  likelihood  he  would  have  enter- 
tained the  matter  more  willingly,  had  the  behef  been  to 
be  reached  by  him  along  the  footsteps  of  a  lengthened 
and  logical  demonstration.  But  he  cannot  understand 
the  virtue  which  lies  in  the  bare  proposition  that  Christ 
died  for  our  sins  according  to  the  Scriptures — and  seen 
too,  not  through  a  medium  of  reasoning,  but  in  the  light, 
as  it  were,  of  its  own  simple  manifestation.  Neverthe- 
less it  is  even  so ;  and  it  is  your  part  to  labor  so  with 
the  consciences  of  your  people,  that  between  the  state- 
ments of  Scripture,  and  the  state  of  their  own  hearts, 
this  light  may  be  made  to  arise.  It  was  thus  that  Paul 
travailed  in  birth  amongst  his  converts,  till  Christ  was 
formed  in  them.  There  was  in  this  operation  what  we 
termed  a  striving  in  prayer — not  prayer,  however,  without 
a  ministration  of  the  word,  nor  yet  a  ministration  of  the 
word  without  prayer,  but  by  the  fruitful  union  of  both, 
he  worked  mightily,  yet  with  full  dependence  on  the  grace 
that  worked  in  him  mightily ;  and  thus  the  gospel  came 
unto  them,  not  in  word  only,  but  also  in  power,  and  in  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  in  much  assurance. 

17.  But  this  result  will  not  follow  with  any  other  than 
that  free  gospel  by  which  salvation  is  represented  as  not 
of  works,  but  altogether  of  grace.  It  is-  only  by  the  pure 
word  of  truth  that  the  mind  of  your  people  can  be  carried. 
I  cannot  exaggerate  the  feeling  I  have  of  its  importance — . 
that  the  heralds  of  mercy  should  make  overture  of  eternal 
life  to  all  who  hear  them  on  the  fooling  of  a  gift,  the  gift  of 
God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  and  this  without  mixtui-e 
and  without  composition,  apart  from  conditions  and  from  all 
consideration  of  any  righteousness  of  our  own.  There  is 
nothing  that  will  so  mar  the  success  of  your  preaching,  or 
throw  so  fatal  an  obstruction  in  the  way  of  it,  as  if  you  piece 
the  merit  of  human  obedience  along  with  the  merit  of  Christ, 
and  so  make  them  both  enter  together  into  the  foundation 
of  their  acceptance  with  God.  It  is  true  that  the  founda- 
tion on  which  you  invite  them  to  lean  must  be  a  founda- 


294  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

tion  of  righteousness ;  but  it  will  give  way  under  them,  it 
will  not  long  sustain  even  the  tranquillity  of  their  own 
spirits,  unless  this  be  exclusively  and  altogether  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ.  And  while  you  thus  urge  upon  them 
the  perfect  simplicity  of  the  object,  you  must  also  demand 
from  them  a  like  simplicity  in  the  act  of  faith.  You  must 
never  cease  to  tell  them  that  it  is  by  faith  alone,  by  faith 
without  works,  that  they  are  justified.  I  wish  that,  upon 
this  subject,  I  could  make  adequate  conveyance  to  your 
minds  of  the  mind  and  spirit  of  Paul  in  his  epistle  to  the 
Galatians.  There  you  will  find  what  I  labor  to  impress 
as  that  which  holds  an  indispensable  and  an  initial  place  in 
the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  and  without  which  the  people 
under  you  will  never  attain  to  solid  peace,  just  because 
they  have  not  been  led  to  lean  their  whole  weight  on  a 
compact  and  homogeneous  basis.  To  admit  the  righteous- 
ness of  man  by  ever  so  little  into  the  title-deed  of  heaven, 
is  to  admit  a  flaw  into  the  security.  It  is  to  vitiate  our 
claim  for  that  purchased  inheritance  which  Christ  won  by 
His  own  services  when  He  stood  alone,  and  of  the  people 
there  were  none  with  Him.  The  utterance  of  His  name 
— when  all  our  dependence — ascends  to  God  like  the  in- 
sense  of  a  sweet  smelling  savor.  But  a  single  iota  along 
with  it  of  dependence  on  ourselves,  is  like  the  dead  fly  in  a 
pot  of  ointment,  which  takes  all  its  healing  virtue  out  of  the 
medicine,  and  Christ  becomes  of  no  effect  to  us.  On  Him 
we  must  rest  exclusively,  else  we  shall  fall  from  grace, 
and  that  because  the  groundwork  of  our  confidence,  like 
the  feet  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  image,  is  partly  of  clay  and 
partly  of  iron.  In  other  words,  the  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith  is  powerless,  if  it  be  not  of  justification  by  faith 
alone.  This  is  the  great  battle-ax  which,  in  the  hand  of 
the  Spirit,  gives  might  and  efficacy  to  the  demonstrations 
of  the  pulpit.  Its  singleness  is  that  in  which  its  great 
strength  lies,  for  then  it  is,  out  and  out,  of  one  divine 
quality,  without  mixture  and  without  contamination.  Thus 
freed  from  all  that  is  adventitious,  it  is  the  pure  aliment 
of  the  soul ;  and  the  report  thereof  by  the  mouth  of  the 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  295 

preacher  is  that  pure  word  the  entrance  of  which  giveth 
light,  even  the  marvelous  light  of  the  gospel.  It  is  this 
simple  revelation  which  gives  health  to  the  wearied  spirit, 
and  causes  it  greatly  to  dehght  in  the  abundance  of  truth 
and  peace.* 

18.  Such  I  hold  to  be  the  foundation  of  all  real  Christian- 
ity, but  we  are  not  to  be  laying  at  it  constantly.  Chris- 
tianity does  not  end  thus  ;  it  only  begins  thus.  Doubtless, 
the  first  thing  to  be  attended  to  in  our  relation  with  God, 
is  that  the  enmity  of  nature  shall  be  turned  into  peace.  I 
have  been  endeavoring  to  point  out  by  how  very  simple  a 
transition  this  is  effected.  Peace  is  the  universal  procla- 
mation. It  is  held  out  to  every  man.  If  man  will  only 
cease  from  his  distrust,  God  hath  ceased  from  His  displeas- 
ure, and  now  calls  on  every  son  and  daughter  of  Adam  to 
draw  nigh.  The  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  His  embassa- 
dors on  this  errand  of  the  world's  pacification ;  and  in  dis- 
charge of  this  commission,  they  are  authorized  to  make  the 
free  and  unconditional  tender  of  forgiveness  and  friendship 
from  God  to  each  and  all  of  the  human  species.  There  is 
no  speech  nor  language  where  their  voice  might  not  be 
heard — a  voice  of  welcome  and  good- will  from  the  mercy- 
seat  on  high  to  all  the  sinners  who  are  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth.  And  this  invitation  is  as  specific  as  it  is  universal — 
so  as  either  to  be  flung  abroad  without  reserve  in  the  hearing 
of  the  multitude,  or  laid  at  the  feet  and  urged  with  all  impor- 
tunity and  tenderness  on  the  acceptance  of  each  individual. 
As  messengers  of  this  grace,  you  might  either  bear  it  from 
house  to  house,  or  sound  it  forth  in  the  midst  of  the  great 
congregation.  You  can  knock  with  it  at  every  door,  and 
solicit  admittance  for  it  into  every  heart.  And  if  this  offer 
of  salvation  might  be  thus  freely  held  out  on  your  part,  it 
might  be  as  freely  laid  hold  of,  with  simple  trust  and  accept- 
ance upon  theirs.     They  have  to  receive  the  oflfered  boon  ; 

*  It  is  essential  to  the  success  of  gospel  preaching  that  the  offers  of  recon- 
ciliation shall  be  laid  before  men  and  urged  on  their  acceptance  upon  the 
footing  of  free  grace. — Rom.  v.  11,  15;  viii.  32;  Gal.  iii.  2;  v.  4 ;  Rom.  xi. 
6 ;  vi.  23 ;  1  John  y.  11 ;  Isaiah  xlv.  22 ;  John  iii.  14 ;  Rev.  xxii.  17. 


296  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

they  have  to  believe  in  its  reality,  and  according  to  their 
faith  so  is  it  done  unto  them.  It  is  thus  that  the  relation 
of  peace  with  the  Lawgiver  in  heaven  is  entered  on  ;  and 
this  blessed  change  is  felt  in  the  sinner's  guilty  bosom,  who 
sees  that  in  the  blood  of  Christ  his  guilt  is  washed  away ; 
and,  as  he  looks  with  full  assurance  of  heart  on  this  transi- 
tion from  a  state  of  war  to  a  state  of  amity  with  God,  has 
great  peace  and  joy  in  the  contemplation  of  it. 

19.  But  it  concerns  us  to  know  that  this  is  not  the  only 
change  consequent  on  our  reception  of  the  Christian 
faith.  Its  outset  is  peace,  but  its  fruit  and  final  result  is 
holiness.  The  one  is  but  the  introduction  to  the  othei  as 
the  landing-place.  There  is  nothing  which  I  deem  of 
greater  importance  in  Christianity,  than  the  pure  and  per- 
fect conjunction  of  these  two  elements — all  the  more  neces- 
sary for  you  to  apprehend,  that  there  is  a  tendency  to 
disjoin  them.  The  gospel  is  so  constructed  that  it,  in  the 
first  instance,  holds  out  to  all  who  will,  a  secure  and  abso- 
lute reconciliation  with  God,  nay,  bids  even  the  chief  of 
sinners  place  his  undoubting  reliance  thereupon — insomuch 
that,  when  it  tells  him  of  salvation  by  faith,  it  but  tells  him 
of  this  privilege  that  is  all  the  surer  in  itself  the  more  sure 
he  is  of  it  in  his  own  mind.  Nothing  then  can  exceed  the 
fullness  of  that  warrant  on  which  the  believer  might  rejoice, 
and  from  the  very  outset,  in  his  felt  and  conscious  peace  with 
God.  But  the  matter  does  not  stop  here.  The  revelation 
under  which  we  sit  is  made  up  of  more  than  one  statement, 
just  as  the  theological  system  constructed  thereupon  is 
made  up  of  more  than  one  article.  There  is  an  offered 
reconciliation,  in  virtue  of  which  the  disciple,  on  the  mo- 
ment of  his  believing,  may  from  the  very  first  walk  before 
God  without  fear ;  and  there  is  also  an  offered  regenera- 
tion, in  virtue  of  which  the  same  disciple  will  from  the 
very  first  enter  on  a  new  fife,  and  walk  before  God  in 
righteousness  and  holiness  all  the  days  of  it.  And  these 
two  things  are  not  only  oflfered,  but  enjoined — first,  to  ac- 
cept of  reconciliation,  as  when  we  are  told  in  one  place, 
Come,  and  I  will  receive  you ;  and  second,  to  submit  our- 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  297 

selves  to  regeneration,  as  when  told  in  another  place, 
Come,  and  I  will  pour  oat  my  spirit  upon  you.  Now 
what  God  has  thus  joined,  man  would  put  asunder — 
as  knowing  not  how  far  to  put  fully  and  freely  together 
the  gospel  immunity  and  the  gospel  obligation.  Some 
there  are,  who,  to  make  room  for  the  latter  would  impair 
and  mutilate  the  former — that  is,  in  order  to  secure  the 
personal  righteousness  of  the  disciple,  they  would  lay  their 
exceptions  and  qualifications  on  the  grace  by  which  he  is 
pardoned.  Others  there  are,  v/ho,  to  magnify  this  grace, 
and  make  all  in  all  of  it,  would  cast  perceptive  Christianity 
into  the  shade,  if  not  sink  it  altogether — that  is,  in  order  to 
exalt  the  Saviour,  would  refuse  all  attention,  not  to  the 
claims  only,  but  to  the  character  of  the  sinner,  to  the  ser- 
vices which  are  expected  at  his  hand,  and  that  way  of 
new  obedience  by  which  alone  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord 
can  find  an  entrance  into  the  Jerusalem  above.  But  Christ 
will  not  be  divided  thus ;  and  if  faith  is  to  save  us  at  all,  it 
must  be  a  whole  faith  in  a  whole  testimony.  The  essence 
of  good  preaching  lies  in  harmonizing  justification  with 
sanctification,  and  in  pressing  them  equally  home.  There 
is  room  for  both  in  the  Bible,  and  there  should  be  room  for 
both  in  your  sermons.  It  is  your  part  to  make  full  declara- 
tion both  of  repentance  towards  God  and  of  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  There  ought  never  to  have  been  a 
conflict  between  these  two  great  and  high  arguments — the 
one,  in  truth,  being  the  animating  principle  by  which  the 
other  is  originated  at  the  first,  and  carried  forward  through 
successive  stages  of  our  moral  and  spiritual  education,  till 
we  become  perfect  even  as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect. 
20.  But  I  can  prosecute  these  themes  no  longer,  else  I 
might  have  pointed  out  more  explicitly  how  prolific  they 
are  of  evidence,  even  to  those  whose  opportunities  give 
them  access  to  nothing  more  than  the  subject-matter  of 
Christianity,  whether  as  read  by  themselves  in  the  Bible, 
or  as  expounded  to  them  by  the  minister  from  the  pulpit. 
In  this,  and  in  this  alone,  there  is  enough  to  challenge  their 
attention  at  the  outset ;  enough  to  perpetuate  this  attention, 


298  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

and  fasten  it  more  and  more  ;  enough  to  call  forth  the  as- 
pirations and  the  prayers  of  moral  earnestness;  enough,  with 
the  manifestations  of  the  Spirit,  to  unvail  the  glories  of  the 
book,  and  cause  to  be  felt  as  well  as  seen  those  profound 
and  precious  adaptations  to  the  necessities  of  the  soul, 
which  announce  that  the  hand  of  a  Divinity  is  there  ;  and, 
finally,  enough  when,  under  the  weight  of  this  constraining 
influence,  the  inquirer  is  led  to  make  the  promises  of  Chris- 
tianity his  hope,  and  its  precepts  his  task- work ;  enough  in, 
the  lights  which  are  struck  out  between  the  word  and  his 
own  experience  reciprocating  therewith,  to  shed,  at  each 
new  step  in  his  spiritual  progress,  a  verification  ever 
brightening  and  ever  repeating,  on  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus.  And  so  it  comes  back  to  our  old  position,  that  the 
way  to  make  right  and  rational  believers  in  a  parish  is 
plainly  and  scripturally  to  preach  the  gospel  to  them.  You 
do  not  need  to  set  up  a  formal  argument  about  its  creden- 
tials— not  even  to  speak  of  them.  You  have  but  to  make 
faithful  exposition  of  the  message  ;  and  this,  in  virtue  of  its 
own  self-evidencing  power,  shuts  men  up  unto  the  faith. 

21.  This  will  become  still  more  palpable,  when,  in  the 
ulterior  parts  of  our  course,  we  are  called  on  to  set  forth 
the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  revelation. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ON  SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM. 

1.  Now  that  your  studies  have  been  conducted  thus  fai% 
you  may  not,  perhaps,  be  prepared  for  the  announcement 
that,  even  still,  you  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  entered 
on  the  science  of  the  Christian  theology.  You,  in  fact,  are 
only  yet  upon  the  threshold  of  it.  You  may  by  this  time 
have  learned  the  credentials  of  the  message  ;  but  with  the 
exception  of  what  you  may  have  looked  to  for  the  purpose 
of  building  up  an  internal  evidence,  you  may  not  have 
learned  the  substance  or  the  contents  of  it.  In  proportion, 
no  doubt,  as  you  advance  in  this  latter  study,  will  you  find 
that  the  internal  evidence  brightens  and  accumulates  the 
more.  But  meanwhile,  long  after  you  have  been  satisfied 
on  the  question,  "  Who  the  letter  comes  from  ?" — there  is 
still  in  reserve  another  question  of  surpassing  importance, 
and  to  which  the  former  stands  but  in  a  subordinate  and 
subservient  relation — we  mean  the  question,  "  What  the 
letter  says  ?" 

2.  And  here  let  me  remark  on  the  glaring  practical 
inconsistency  of  those  who  delude  themselves  into  the 
imagination  of  their  belief  in  Christianity,  because,  as  the 
fruit,  it  maybe,  of  their  lengthened  and  laborious  research, 
they  have  come  to  an  orthodox  conclusion  on  the  first  of 
these  questions,  while  they  persist  in  deepest  lethargy  and 
unconcern  on  the  second  of  them.  They  may  be  pro- 
foundly read  in  the  Deistical  controversy — they  may  have 
mastered  the  whole  scholarship  of  the  argumentative  evi- 
dence for  the  general  truth  of  Christianity — they  may  have 
explored  the  erudition  of  all  that  history  which  attaches  to 
the  professed  revelations  of  Mahomet  and  Jesus  Christ ; 
and  if  assuredly  they  are  not  Mussulmans,  seeing  they 
have  rejected  the  one,  what  else  can  they  be  but  Christians. 


300  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

in  that  they  have  received  the  other  ?  This  treacherous 
imagination  is  exemplified  not  alone  by  the  theological 
student,  for  we  hold  it  to  be  widely  prevalent  in  society. 
It  is  not  infidelity,  because  they  hold  the  gospel  to  be  an 
authentic  communication  from  heaven  to  earth ;  and  it  is 
not  Christianity,  because  they  hold  in  utter  indifference  the 
matter  of  this  communication.  This  monstrous  perversity 
of  Christianity  in  the  brief,  without  a  Christianity  in  the 
detail — this  admission  of  the  book  without  acquaintance 
with  the  book,  or  the  slightest  care  to  be  acquainted  with 
it — this  hollow,  unsubstantial  mockery  of  a  faith  without 
knowledge,  of  a  creed  without  articles,  has  in  it  certain 
moral  aggravations  which  makes  it  in  some  respects  to 
surpass  in  guilt  an  open  and  resolute  and  declared  enmity 
to  revelation.  To  labour  that  you  may  ascertain  the  ques- 
tion whence  a  given  communication  may  have  come  ;  and 
after  you  have  succeeded  in  convincing  yourself  that  it 
hath  come  from  the  very  pavilion  of  the  residence  of  God, 
to  feel  that  you  are  now  discharged  of  all  further  attention 
to  the  matter,  and  so  to  think  no  more  of  it — to  proceed  so 
far  in  your  studies  as  to  become  satisfied  that  the  message 
is  actually  His,  and  then,  as  if  this  were  the  signal  for  con- 
tempt and  carelessness,  to  feel  that  now  your  studies  on 
the  message  have  terminated,  and  you  need  have  no  moi'e 
to  do  with  it — ^to  acquiesce,  as  many  do,  in  the  general 
position,  that  Scripture  is  the  genuine  record  of  those 
various  embassies  which  have  passed  from  the  heaven 
above  to  the  men  of  our  lower  world  ;  and  yet,  as  if  nause- 
ating its  phraseology,  or  at  least  as  if  regardless  to  the 
uttermost  of  its  informations  and  its  facts,  to  be  habitually 
heedless  of  it  from  day  to  day  as  a  despised  and  forgotten 
thing — thus  to  suffer  that  Bible,  on  whose  evidences  you 
may  have  for  months  been  expending  the  utmost  strenuous- 
ness  of  thought,  to  lie  beside  you  with  its  contents  unread, 
unopened,  unattended  to — there  is  in  all  this  a  delinquency 
of  spirit  and  of  principle  which  would  not  only  nullify  the 
good  of  all  your  previous  acquisitions,  but  which  would 
convert  them  into  the  grounds  of  your  more  emphatic  con- 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  301 

demnation.  Let  me  therefore  repeat,  that  you  sin  against 
hght,  and  turn  that  which  might  be  the  savor  of  Hfe  into 
the  savor  of  death — if,,  after  having  ascertained  from  whom 
the  letter  comes,  you  proceed  not  in  all  reverence  and 
docility  of  spirit,  and  with  a  mind  still  more  intent  on  the 
substance  than  it  ever  was  on  the  proofs  of  the  communica- 
tion, to  ascertain  further  what  the  letter  says. 

3.  And  let  me  here  observe,  that,  while  it  is  the  ui^gent 
and  indispensable  duty  of  the  people  to  know  what  the 
Bible  says  in  our  vernacular  tongue,  it  is  most  desirable 
that  each  of  you,  the  future  ministers  of  our  land,  should 
know  what  the  Bible  says  in  its  original  languages.  This 
I  hold  not  only  to  be  a  right  and  respectable  accomplish- 
ment for  all  clergymen,  but  I  should  regard  it  as  a  muti- 
lated Church — and  that,  like  an  incomplete  apparatus,  it 
was  bereft  or  crippled  in  some  of  its  essential  parts,  did  it 
not  number  at  least  so  many  of  its  sons  among  the  first 
critics  and  philologists  of  our  age.  The  Church,  viewed 
as  an  organic  and  complicated  structure,  is  wanting  in 
some  of  its  essential  members,  certain  of  its  important 
functions  are  suspended,  it  fulfills  not  all  the  high  purposes 
of  its  establishment  in  society — if  there  be  not  a  goodly 
number  of  its  ministers  profoundly  versant,  and  without 
the  stepping-stone  of  translations,  not  merely  in  the  idiom- 
atic phraseology  of  all  the  books  w^hich  enter  into  the 
canon  of  Scripture,  but  in  the  ponderous  and  recondite 
scholarship  of  those  mighty  tomes  which,  in  the  shapes  of 
Polyglots  and  Prolegomena  and  Thesauruses,  lie  piled  in 
vast  and  venerable  products  on  the  least  frequented  shelves 
of  our  public  libraries — standing  there,  however,  in  a  sort 
of  monumental  character,  having  been  bequeathed  to  us  by 
the  gigantic  men  of  other  days,  as  the  memorials  of  an 
erudition  and  of  an  arduous  and  indefatigable  perseverance 
that  are  now  unknown.  I  confess  that  there  are  few  things 
which  I  should  like  better  to  witness  than  the  revival  of 
this  massive,  this  substantial  lore,  in  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland.  Not  that  this  is  the  only,  nor  indeed  the  chief 
service  of  her  ministers,  and  not  therefore  that  all  should 


302  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

be  embarked  on  it.  But  should  I  discover  anything  like  a 
special  aptitude  for  languages — should  I  be  made  to  know 
of  any  among  those  now  before  me,  whose  power  and 
whose  literary  passion  lay  in  that  direction — should  I  hear 
of  but  one  that  he  loved  to  grapple — I  do  not  mean  at 
present  with  the  doctrinal,  but  with  the  verbal  obscurities 
of  the  Old  or  New  Testaments,  and  that  in  virtue  of  some 
skillful  and  well-supported  emendation,  he  gave  significancy 
and  effect  to  such  passages  as  were  before  impracticable : 
although  far  higher  than  an  endowment  of  this  kind  I  hold 
to  be  that  wisdom  of  the  Spirit  by  which  man  is  enabled  to 
compare  "  spiritual  things  with  spiritual,"  we  should  be 
very  far  indeed  from  undervaluing  that  wisdom  of  the 
letter  in  virtue  of  which  it  is  that  we  compare  scriptural 
things  with  scriptural.  But  while  we  desiderate  a  super- 
lative Biblical  criticism  for  some  of  our  ministers,  we  still 
more  desiderate  for  them  all  a  familiar  acquaintance  both 
with  the  Greek  New  Testament  and  with  the  Septuagint 
version  of  the  Old.  I  should  even  recommend,  not  as  the 
special  accomplishment  of  a  few,  but  as  your  general,  I 
should  like  it  your  universal  accomplishment,  that  you 
w^ere  so  practiced  in  Latin,  as,  if  not  to  write  in  that  densely 
energetic  language  calamo  currente,  at  least  to  read  it  oculo 
currente.  This  you  will  soon  find  a  very  practicable  work 
with  the  modern  Latin  of  our  Continental  divines — as 
Luther,  and  Calvin,  and  Erasmus,  and  Grotius,  and  Witsius, 
and  Turretin.  I  can  even  fancy  an  approach  to  a  more 
Anglican  structure  and  phraseology  in  the  works  of  the 
Latin  Fathers  than  you  meet  with  in  the  works  of  the 
classics  ;  and  certain  it  is,  that  even  the  Greek  Fathers  are 
so  imbued  with  the  style  of  the  original  Scriptures,  and, 
above  all,  so  charged  with  the  subject  of  them,  as  to  be  far 
more  easily  perused  than  the  writers  in  that  language  to 
which  you  have  already  had  access  in  the  course  of  your 
previous  education.  So  that  really,  with  the  practice  and 
perseverance  of  months,  I  feel  quite  confident  that  many 
of  you,  with  an  expertness  always  growing,  would  be  per- 
fectly at  home  among  the  pages  of  Jerome,  and  Augustine, 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  303 

and  Origen,  and  Tertullian,  and  Eusebius.  I  should  cer- 
tainly rejoice  in  seeing  our  Church  more  leavened  than  it 
it  is  with  a  wide-spread  infusion  of  this  sort  of  literature. 
And,  then,  for  those  select  few  whom  nature  may  have 
furnished  with  aptitudes  and  powers  for  the  higher  walks 
of  it — for  those  who  breathe  in  their  best  loved  element 
when  steeped  in  the  lore  and  among  the  languages  of  anti- 
quity— for  the  men  of  rarer  endowment,  who,  in  climbing 
their  upward  way  to  the  more  hidden  and  elevated  tracks 
of  Christian  scholarship,  feel  a  supreme  enjoyment  in  those 
unenvied  treasures  which  meet  them  on  their  course — for 
those  amateurs  of  sacred  learning,  who,  whether  in  the 
exercise  of  their  own  original  powers  of  interpretation,  or 
in  their  laborious  research  among  the  versions  and  the 
authorities  of  other  days,  have  a  relish  amounting  to 
ecstasy  in  which  so  very  few  of  our  age  can  sympathize 
— why,  though  we  neither  can  expect  nor  should  desire 
these  habits  of  arduousness  and  these  heights  of  proficiency, 
from  one  and  all  of  the  Church's  ministers — yet  for  the 
Church,  on  the  whole,  for  her  full  equipment,  and  that  her 
panoply  may  be  completed,  a  few  at  least  of  such  erudite 
and  such  highly  lettered  men  appear  to  be  indispensable. 
They  foi'm  our  mightiest  men  of  war  in  the  battles  of  the 
faith,  both  with  daring  infidelity  on  the  one  hand,  and  with 
lax  and  licentious  heresy  upon  the  other.  Whether  the 
question  relates  to  the  sense  of  Scripture  or  to  the  historic 
credibility  of  Scripture,  these,  holding  as  they  do  at  first 
hand  the  materials  of  the  argument,  are  far  the  most 
redoubted  champions  of  orthodoxy.  It  is  to  them  we  owe 
it  that  the  Church  militant  has  withstood  the  shock  of  many 
an  adverse  colHsion  with  all  the  science  and  the  scholar- 
ship which,  dissevered  from  religion,  have  labored  for  its 
overthrow.  There  is  a  work  of  internal  cultivation  within 
the  vineyard  distinct  from  theirs,  and  I  should  say  higher 
than  theirs.  There  may  be  hundreds  who  labor  with  greater 
effect  in  our  parishes.  But  these  are  the  men  to  whose  handi- 
work we  look  when  we  go  round  the  walls  of  our  Zion,  and 
rejoice  in  the  strength  and  the  ornament  of  her  bulwarks. 


304  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

4.  This  is  obviously  not  the  class  where  the  lessons  of 
Scripture  criticism,  in  all  the  requisite  fullness  and  detail, 
can  properly  be  given.  Yet  on  us  the  duty  lies  of  assign- 
ing the  place  v^^hich  belongs  to  it  in  the  science  of  theo- 
logy ;  and  its  bearing  on  the  system  of  Christian  doctrine, 
as  v^^ell  as  on  that  greatest  of  all  practical  interests — the 
correct  instruction  of  the  people  in  the  truths,  and  precepts, 
and  whole  subject-matter  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
Ours,  then,  is  not  to  dehver  this  scholarship,  for  which  you 
must  attend  upon  another  Chair.  But  it  is  ours  both  to 
state  now  what  the  design  and  uses  of  the  scholarship  are, 
and  afterwards  to  exemplify  these  throughout  the  various 
passages  and  occasions  of  a  course,  the  main  object  of 
which  is  both  to  estabhsh  and  to  vindicate  the  articles  of 
our  faith. 

5.  The  two  main  objects  of  Scripture  Criticism  are  the 
integrity  of  the  text,  and  the  interpretation  of  it.  The  first 
question  is,  "what  did  the  authors  of  Scripture  really 
write  ?"  The  second,  "  what  is  the  sense  or  meaning  of 
it  f '  The  former  has  been  termed  corrective  or  emenda- 
tory  criticism,  its  object  being  to  substitute  the  true  in 
place  of  the  false  readings.  The  latter  has  been  termed 
interpretative  criticism. 

6.  There  is  one  general  remark  alike  applicable  to  both, 
and  which  we  think  it  right  to  bring  forth  in  limine,  and 
that  with  the  view  to  meet  a  certain  vague  and  ill-defined 
prejudice  on  the  part  of  those  who  would  depreciate  the 
importance  of  our  being  acquainted  with  the  letter  of 
Scripture,  or  with  the  literal  sense  of  it.  There  is  a  con- 
fusion of  sentiment  into  which  pious  Christians  are  apt  to 
fall — and  that  too  in  very  proportion  to  their  piety.  They 
have  been  led  to  ascribe  the  illumination  of  every  Chris- 
tian mind  to  a  special  influence  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and 
to  look  with  comparative  indifference,  if  not  with  suspicion, 
on  all  that  lore  which  is  connected  with  the  illustration  of 
the  Word  of  God.  They  are  perplexed  by  the  imagina- 
tion of  a  something  in  the  light  of  the  Spirit,  which  super- 
sedes the  labors  of  human  criticism.     We  hold  it  of  im- 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  305 

portance,  therefore,  even  at  this  early  stage  of  your  tuition, 
and  though  we  anticipate  a  doctrine  which  belongs  to  the 
subject-matter  of  the  Christian  theology — to  give  a  very 
brief  exposition  of  the  respective  functions  of  the  Spirit 
and  of  the  word.  We  feel  persuaded  that  if  this  were 
rightly  understood,  it  would  be  found  that  neither  of  these 
were  of  any  efficacy  apart  from  the  other — ^that  our  most 
strenuous  perusals  of  the  word  did  not  dispense  us  from 
the  necessity  of  prayer  for  the  Spirit ;  and  that  the  prom- 
ise of  the  Spirit  did  not  discharge  us  from  the  intelligent 
perusal,  neither  did  it  lessen  the  value  of  our  erudite  and 
philological  study,  of  the  word  ; — that  this,  in  short,  is  a 
question  on  which  the  humblest  piety  and  profoundest 
scholarship  should  be  at  one. 

7.  And  this  is  the  adjustment.  The  Spirit  does  illumin- 
ate ;  but  He  illuminates  only  by  the  word.  In  His  office 
as  a  Revealer  of  truth  to  the  mind,  He  tells  us  nothing 
that  is  out  of  Scripture.  He  only  makes  what  is  in  Scrip- 
ture clear  and  impressive  to  us.  He  addresses  us  in  no 
other  vocables  than  the  vocables  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments. He  makes  known  to  us  no  other  doctrine  than 
that  which  is  literally  and  materially  to  be  found  within 
the  four  corners  of  the  written  record.  He  adds  nothing ; 
He  takes  away  nothing.  It  is  true  that  He  does  open  our 
understandings,  but  it  is  to  understand  the  Scriptures.  It 
is  He,  and  He  alone,  who  opens  our  eyes  to  behold  won- 
drous things,  but  they  are  the  wondrous  things  contained 
in  the  book  of  God's  law.  The  telescope  does  not  make 
the  objects  which  are  placed  on  a  distant  landscape :  it 
only  makes  them  visible.  The  Spirit  does  not,  in  the  act 
of  enlightening  any  individual  mind,  make  for  it  a  new 
revelation  of  new  truths  ;  it  only  makes  the  old  truths  of  the 
old  revelation  intelligible.  By  the  optical  instrument,  it  is 
one  and  the  same  panorama  which  is  brought  within  the 
ken  of  all  the  different  observers.  And  in  like  manner,  all 
whom  the  Spirit  brings  out  of  darkness  into  marvelous 
light,  are  made  to  behold  the  same  moral  and  spiritual 
landscape,  spread  out,  as  it  were,  on  the  page  of  revelation. 


306  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

In  that  work  of  the  Spirit  which  has  been  so  much  derided 
and  disowned,  there  is  naught  of  fancy  and  naught  of  fluc- 
tuation. They  are  the  stabihties,  the  unchanging  and  in- 
destructible stabilities  of  a  now  fixed  and  finished  record 
in  which  He  deals.  The  Bible  is  the  text-book  even  of 
His  revelations — for  His  only  revelation  lies  in  the  splen- 
dor which  He  sheds  over  the  doctrines  and  informations  of 
the  Bible.  It  is  not  aiK)ther  book  which  He  presents,  but 
the  same  book,  so  to  speak,  in  illuminated  characters.  It  is 
thus  that  the  Christianity  of  a  converted  Hottentot  is  the 
same  with  the  Christianity  of  a  converted  Highlander. 
Each  has  been  operated  upon  by  the  Spirit  of  God ;  but  it 
does  not  thence  follow  that  each  has  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  a  distinct  or  different  communication.  He  has  fur- 
nished neither  with  new  truths — He  has  only  by  that  urg- 
ing power,  which  is  peculiarly  his  own,  fixed,  and  deepened, 
and  perpetuated  the  impression  of  old  ones ;  and  so  the 
Christianity  which  is  graven  on  the  mental  tablets  of  both, 
is  but  an  accurate  transcript  of  that  one  Christianity  which 
was  graven  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago  on  the  tablet 
of  an  outward  revelation. 

8.  This  process,  this  concurrent  process  of  the  Spirit 
and  the  word,  and  in  which  both  are  alike  indispensable, 
may  be  illustrated  by  a  variety  of  images ;  but  the  most 
instructive  of  these  analogies  is  to  represent  it  by  the  im- 
pression of  a  seal  on  any  substance  that  has  been  submitted 
to  it.  This  substance  may  be  conceived  so  hard  and  im- 
practicable, that  with  all  my  strength  I  cannot  effectuate 
the  impression.  But  one  stronger  than  I  may  succeed  in 
doing  it ;  and  yet  he  adds  not  one  character  or  one  linea- 
ment to  the  impression  that  has  been  made.  He  adds 
nothing,  he  alters  nothing,  and  what  now  has  been  stamp- 
ed is  the  precise  counterpart  of  what  formerly  has  been 
graven.  x'Vnd  it  is  just  so  with  the  written  epistle  of  an 
external  revelation,  and  those  minds,  those  converted  or 
Christianized  minds,  which  the  apostle  designates  as  the 
living  epistles  of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  It  does  not  lie 
with  human  eloquence,  or  human  power,  to  urge  adequate- 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  307 

ly  on  any  mind  the  truths  of  Christianity.  But  what  man 
cannot  do,  the  Spirit  of  God  can  do ;  and  yet  they  are  the 
very  truths  of  Scripture  which  he  thus  impresses  upon 
the  heart — and  these  most  appropriately  and  significantly 
conveyed  in  the  very  terms  of  Scripture.  This  view 
of  the  doctrine  preserves  for  Scripture  criticism  all  the 
worth  and  significancy  which  are  ascribed  to  it  by 
those  who  nauseate  the  doctrine  of  a  spiritual  influence, 
or  put  it  utterly  away  from  them.  The  office  of  the 
Spirit  is  to  renew ;  but,  to  use  a  Bible  phrase,  it  is  to 
renew  in  knowledge.  He  makes  Scripture  effectual  to  con- 
version ;  but  it  is  only  made  eflfectual  to  those  who  know 
Scripture.  The  doctrine  of  a  spiritual  influence  from 
above,  when  rightly  understood,  does  not  supersede,  but 
would  stimulate  to  their  most  intense  exertion  the  natu- 
ral faculties  of  those  who  are  the  seeking  and  the  expect- 
ant subjects  of  this  influence.  It  is  the  part  of  man  to 
give  earnest  heed  unto  the  word — it  is  the  part  of  God  to 
make  the  day  dawn  and  the  day-star  arise  in  his  heart. 
Still  it  is  by  the  letter  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  that 
God  enlightens  man ;  and  it  is  with  this  letter  that  man 
should  hold  studious  and  unremitting  converse.  He  should 
do  with  the  Bible  what  he  would  do  w^ith  some  antiquated 
seal,  which  he  wanted  to  preserve  in  the  very  condition 
in  which  it  was  when  originally  struck  by  the  hand  of  him 
who  fashioned  it.  Time  may  have  shaded  or  effaced  some 
of  its  lineaments.  The  corrosion  of  many  ages  may  have 
somewhat  obliterated,  or  even  somewhat  transformed  the 
device  and  inscription.  His  labors  to  ascertain  its  primi- 
tive state,  are  precisely  analogous  to  the  labors  of  him 
who  brings  his  erudite  criticism  to  bear  on  the  readings 
and  the  renderings  of  Scripture.  And  it  goes,  not  to  de- 
preciate the  worth  of  Scripture  criticism,  it  mightily  adds 
to  its  importance  and  its  glory,  that  the  Spirit  of  God,  act- 
ing with  and  by  the  Scripture,  is  the  enlightener  of  man. 
The  vocation  of  the  Scripture  critic  is  like  in  magnitude 
to  the  vocation  of  him  whose  office  is  to  keep  right  the 
instrument  that  is  wielded  by  the  hands  of  a  mighty  work- 


308  liNSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

man  ;  and  the  higher  and  nobler  the  agent  is,  the  more 
momentous  an  interest  is  concerned  in  the  right  keeping 
of  the  instrument  which  he  employs.  Even  in  the  hands 
of  the  Spirit,  the  changes  and  the  corruptions  of  Scripture 
are  powerless;  and  these  changes  and  corruptions,- it  is 
the  office  of  Scripture  criticism  to  clear  away.  It  is  only 
with  what  is  purely  and  primitively  Scripture  that  He 
effectually  works ;  and  the  office  of  Scripture  criticism  is 
to  present  this  Scripture  in  all  its  pure  and  primitive  integ- 
rity to  the  eyes  of  the  understanding. 

9.  I  am  aware  that  I  now  anticipate  a  theme,  for  the 
complete  elucidation  of  which  I  must  refer  you  to  an  ulte- 
rior part  of  our  course.  Yet  I  am  not  sorry  that  it  should 
have  met  us  thus  early.  It  affi)rds  me  the  opportunity  of 
protesting  at  the  outset  against  that  unnatural  jealousy  on 
both  sides  in  virtue  of  which  all  that  is  lofty  or  arduous  in 
the  scholarship  of  our  profession  is  apt  to  be  dissevered 
from  all  that  is  devout  and  humble  and  childlike  in  its 
orthodoxy.  I  want  you  to  exemplify  both,  to  harmonize 
both.  It  was  so  done  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Reformation — 
pious  and  prayerful,  yet  withal  laborious  and  lettered,  and 
eminently  intellectual  men — giants  in  the  lore  of  theology 
— yet,  save  when  duty  called  to  feats  of  hardihood,  babes 
in  its  spirit,  who  sat  down  to  the  lessons  of  Scripture  with 
the  same  talent  and  the  same  modesty  that  Newton  did  to 
the  lessons  of  science — who,  gifted  superlatively  by  nature 
put  forth  all  that  was  in  them  to  busiest  exercise ;  yet 
feeling  as  if  all  were  nothing  unless  furthermore  gifted  by 
grace,  gave  themselves  up  to  devoutest  supplication.  And 
thus  did  they  realize  that  rare  yet  alone  fruitful  union  in 
divinity^ — the  union  of  hands  as  diligent  at  their  taskwork 
as  if  in  their  own  strength  they  could  do  everything,  with 
hearts  as  submissively  dependent  on  a  power  above  them 
as  if  in  themselves  they  could  do  nothing. 

10.  The  most  interesting  collision  upon  this  question 
that  I  know  of  between  unlike  men  of  unlike  minds,  was 
that  between  the  most  learned  of  our  Churchmen,  on  the 
one  hand,  Brian  Walton,  author  or  rather  editor  of  the 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  309 

London  Polyglot,  and  the  most  talented  and  zealous  of  our 
sectarians,  on  the  other,  Dr.  John  Owen.  The  latter  ad- 
ventured himself  most  rashly  into  a  combat,  and  under  a 
false  alarm,  for  the  results  of  the  erudition  of  the  former ; 
and  the  former  retorted  contemptuously  upon  his  antago- 
nist as  he  would  upon  a  mystic  or  enthusiastic  devotee. 
The  amalgamation  of  the  two  properties,  thus  arrayed 
in  hostile  conflict,  would  have  just  made  up  a  perfect  theo- 
logian. It  would  have  been  the  wisdom  of  the  letter  in 
alliance  with  the  wisdom  of  the  Spirit — instead  of  which  I 
know  not  what  was  most  revolting — the  lordly  insolence 
of  the  Prelate,  or  the  outrageous  violence  of  the  Puritan. 
In  the  first  place,  it  was  illiterate  in  Owen  to  apprehend 
that  the  integrity  of  the  Scripture  would  be  unsettled  by 
the  exposure,  in  all  their  magnitude  and  multitude,  of  its 
various  readings ;  but  in  the  second  place,  we  stand  in 
doubt  of  Walton's  spirit  and  his  seriousness,  when  he  groups 
and  characterizes  as  the  New  Light  men  and  ranting 
enthusiasts  of  these  days — those  sectaries,  many  of  whom 
though  far  behind  him  in  the  lore  of  theology,  as  consisting 
in  the  knowledge  of  its  vocables,  were  as  far  before  him  in 
acquaintance  with  the  subject-matter  of  theology,  as  con- 
sisting of  its  doctrines  and  of  their  application  to  the  wants 
and  the  principles  of  our  moral  nature.  The  way  to  adjust 
this  difference  is  not,  as  is  common  in  the  management  of 
extremes,  to  avoid  both.  In  the  present  instance,  certainly, 
it  is  to  compound  both — the  philology  and  the  research 
and  the  classic  or  antiquarian  attainments  of  the  one,  with 
the  faith,  and  the  ardor,  and  the  profound  intelligence,  if 
not  in  the  words,  at  least  in  the  substance  of  the  divine 
testimony,  which  still  more  illustriously  signalized  the  other. 
11.  It  will  enable  me,  with  all  the  greater  comfort  and 
safety,  to  recommend  the  productions  of  another  distin- 
guished laborer  in  the  walk  of  Scripture  criticism,  if  I  fore- 
warn you  of  that  unhallowed  contempt  for  the  doctrine  of  a 
spiritual  and  supernatural  influence  by  which  he  is  actuated. 
I  mean  the  younger  Michaelis — in  whose  chapter  on  the 
various  readings  of  the  New  Testament  you  will  perhaps 


310  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

find  the  soundest  and  most  instructive  lessons  upon  this  sub- 
ject to  be  met  with  anywhere;  but  against  whose  disdainful 
coldness,  or  rather  whose  passionate  and  deep-rooted  antipa- 
thy to  spiritual  rehgion,  you  need  to  be  guarded.  The  most 
profound  acquaintance  with  the  letter  of  Scripture  even 
though  carried  to  its  minutest,  and  before  undiscovered, nice- 
ties, is  no  guarantee  whatever  for  the  respect  in  which  we 
hold  those  great  and  momentous  doctrines  which  are  acces- 
sible to  all,  and  the  property  of  all ;  and  thus  our  veneration 
for  an  accomplished  philologist  and  critic,  may  invest  with 
most  dangerous  authority  his  contemptuous  allusion  to  such 
articles  of  faith  as  enter  into  the  very  life  and  substance  of 
the  New  Testament.  It  is  not  therefore  without  a  certain 
measure  of  painful  apprehension  that  I  ask  the  student  of 
theology  to  peruse  Michaelis'  Introduction  to  the  New  Test- 
ament, fearful  as  I  am  that  while  under  his  tuition  you  make 
rapid  advances  in  the  wisdom  of  the  letter,  you  may  insensi- 
bly imbibe  his  own  feeling,  the  general  feeling  of  the  Biblists 
in  Germany — that  the  wisdom  of  the  Spirit  is  foolishness. 
What  so  unequivocal  a  demonstration  of  this,  for  example, 
as,  when  deriding  the  pretension  of  iUiterate  Christians  to 
the  Holy  Ghost,  he  gives  it  as  his  own  experience,  that  he 
never  felt  any  special  influence  from  the  Holy  Ghost  dur- 
ing the  whole  of  his  life  1  And  shall  a  doctrine,  which 
stands  forth  so  broadly  and  conspicuously  in  almost  every 
page,  be  sacrificed  to  an  authority,  earned  upon  no  other 
ground  than  that,  in  virtue  of  pursuing  Scripture  criticism 
into  its  minuter  ramifications,  he  holds  more  intelligent 
converse  than  most  other  men,  with  matters  not  to  be  de- 
spised, for  all  Scripture  is  profitable,  but  still  with  matters 
which,  when  compared  in  worth  and  magnitude  with  the 
doctrine  in  question,  are  but  the  difficiles  nugce  of  the  New 
Testament  ?  We  shall  presently  show  how  it  is  that  the 
most  important  truths  of  Christianity  should  be  the  most 
obvious ;  and  how,  generally  speaking,  they  are  the  least 
useful  things  in  the  system  of  divine  truth,  which  either 
occur  so  rarely,  or  are  situated  so  reconditely  among  the 
aira^  Xeyofisva  of  Scripture,  as  to  call  for  the  application  of 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  311 

Scripture  criticism  in  its  utmost  strenuousness.  It  is  an 
accomplishment  therefore  which  has  its  own  value  ;  but  be 
assured  of  a  subtle  delusion,  of  a  distorted  and  dispropor- 
tionate view  of  things,  if  it  be  thought  that,  in  virtue  of  hav- 
ing this  accomplishment,  we  are  either  better  qualified  to 
pronounce ;  or,  still  more,  are  entitled  because  of  it,  to  pour 
off  our  obloquy  and  scorn  on  the  leading  articles  of  the  faith. 
12.  There  were  a  twofold  advantage  in  a  correct  under- 
standing of  the  Spirit's  operation,  as  an  operation  mainly  car- 
ried into  effect  by  the  force  and  clearness  which  He  impart- 
ed to  the  word.  It  might,  in  the  first  instance,  reconcile 
pious,  though  unlettered  Christians,  to  Scripture  criticism  ; 
and  in  the  second,  might  reconcile  our  philologists  and  mere 
eruditionists  of  the  Bible  to  the  doctrine  of  a  spiritual  influ- 
ence. We  have  no  doubt  of  this  influence  having  been 
wholly  misunderstood  by  Michaelis — that  he  imagined  of  it 
as  something  apart  from  Scripture,  instead  of  its  sole  function 
being  to  impress  the  meaning  and  sentiment  of  Scripture 
with  prevailing  energy  upon  the  mind  ;  that  he  fancied  an 
afflatus,  or  a  vision,  or  a  direct  inspiration  from  the  Holy 
Spirit,  making  revelation  of  new  things  rather  than  un- 
vailing  from  obscurity,  or  giving  animation  and  effect  to 
the  very  revelations  of  the  Bible.  The  reality  of  such  an 
influence  has  the  strongest  of  all  evidence  to  rest  upon — the 
recollection  of  what  we  originally  were,  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  what  we  subsequently  are,  when  visited  therewith 
— that  wide  moral  contrast  so  discernible  by  every  awak- 
ened spirit  between  the  habit  of  him  who  is  all  insensible 
to  God,  and  of  him  whose  hourly  and  perpetual  reference 
is  to  the  Being  with  whom  we  have  to  do ;  of  him  who 
lightly  esteems  the  Saviour,  and  him  whose  aim  it  is  to  do 
all  things  whatsoever  in  the  name  of  Jesus  ;  of  him  whose 
only  fellowship  is  with  the  things  of  sense  and  of  time,  and 
him  who  is  ever  looking  ahead  of  death  to  the  realities  of 
the  eternal  world  beyond  it.  To  the  man  who  has  actu- 
ally undergone  such  a  change,  its  reality  is  much  too  pal- 
pable to  suffer  obscuration  from  the  wholly  misplaced  and 
inapplicable  learning  which  is  gathered  on  the  byways  of 


312  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

criticism.  There  is  nothing  whatever  in  the  calling  of 
these  philologists  which  rightfully  invests  them  with  any 
such  authority.  Should  a  man,  by  dint  of  painful  com- 
parison among  manuscripts,  succeed  in  restoring  some 
faded  or  mutilated  letter,  would  the  eclat  of  such  a  dis- 
covery entitle  him  to  expunge  the  whole  authentic  and 
undeniable  sentence  to  which  it  belongs  ?  Yet  his  right 
would  be  fully  as  good,  and  earned  too  in  the  very  same 
way  as  that  of  Michaelis,  or  any  the  most  profound  and 
laborious  BibHst  in  Germany,  to  cast  disparagement  on 
those  great  truths  which  have  the  firm  basis  both  of  ex- 
perience and  Scripture  to  rest  upon. 

13.  There  is  much  of  philosophy  as  well  as  of  admira- 
ble naivete  and  tact  in  the  sayings  of  the  plain  Christian, 
John  Newton  of  London.  I  think  he  has  hit  the  precise 
relation  in  which  Bible  philologists  and  collectors  stand  to 
us,  when  he  denominates  them  the  Gibeonites  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  the  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  to 
the  children  of  Israel. 

14.  After  having  got  over  this  preliminary  barrier  in  the 
way  of  Scripture  criticism,  we  hold  it  as  a  sure  and  irre- 
sistible position,  that  it  must  just  be  conducted  on  the  same 
principles  and  by  the  same  methods  with  the  criticism  of 
all  other  ancient  authorship.  To  determine  the  genuine 
readings  of  any  book  in  the  new  Testament,  you  must  pro- 
ceed on  the  very  indications  which  guide  you  to  the  genu- 
ine readings  of  Horace  or  Cicero.  And  to  determine  the 
sense  of  any  Scripture  passage,  you  employ  the  very  in- 
struments which  are  wielded  by  linguists  and  grammarians 
when  they  try  to  penetrate  the  meaning  of  any  obscure  or 
controverted  sentence  in  the  poets  or  the  historians  or  the 
sages  of  Greece  and  Rome.  This  investigation  is  similarly 
conducted  in  profane  and  sacred  literature ;  and  the  same 
philology,  the  same  erudite  acquaintance  with  the  lights 
of  contemporaneous  history,  the  same  skillfulness  in  the 
usages  and  analogies  of  speech,  whether  founded  on  the 
comparison  of  an  author  with  himself,  or  on  the  compari- 
son of  him  with  all  that  has  survived  of  the  language  in 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  313 

which  he  wrote,  are  applicable  to  the  elucidation  of  both. 
It  matters  not  whether  it  be  a  classical  or  a  Christian,  and 
even  inspired  composition.  When  you  sit  in  judgment,  be 
it  on  the  integrity  of  the  text,  or  on  the  sense  of  it — both 
should  receive  the  like  treatment  at  your  hands.  There  is 
nothing  in  what  we  have  said  of  the  spiritual  sense  or  im- 
pression of  Scripture  that  should  at  all  affect  the  methods 
of  your  investigation  into  the  literal  sense ;  for  always 
remember,  that  the  spiritual  quadrates  at  all  points  with 
the  literal,  and  that  it  is  through  the  knowledge  of  the  one 
that  the  light  and  life  of  the  other  are  conveyed  to  you. 
On  this  subject  it  were  well  to  ponder  the  sentiment  of 
Chrysostom,  who  has  been  termed  the  father  of  all  legiti- 
mate interpretation.  He  thought,  and  most  justly,  I  appre- 
hend, that  the  only  sure  means  of  arriving  at  the  genuine 
interpretation  of  Scripture  is^  first  to  ascertain  the  literal,, 
grammatical,  and  historical  sense,  since  on  that  alone  can  be 
founded  the  moral,  doctrinal,  spiritual,  or  mystical — though 
the  latter  is  not  unfrequently  the  more  important  sense, 
and  sometimes  the  only  true  one. 

15.  We  quite  agree,  then,  with  all  the  actual  scholars  in 
this  department  of  literature,  that  in  the  treatment  of  Scrip- 
ture we  should  follow  the  very  same  methods  which  the 
interpreters  not  only  of  the  sacred  books,  but  also  of  the 
classical  authors,  have  reckoned  to  be  the  certain,  legiti- 
mate, and  only  true  methods  worthy  of  a  man  of  erudition 
— even  that  which  is  called  the  grammatical.  There  is 
nothing  in  this  concession  which  does  not  leave  to  the 
office  of  the  Spirit,  as  an  enlightener,  all  the  importance 
and  significancy  it  ever  had.  It  just  affords  one  exemplifi- 
cation more  of  a  principle  that  runs  through  the  whole  of 
theology,  whenever  the  Divine  and  the  human  agency  meet 
together  for  the  production  of  a  given  effect — in  which  case 
there  is  a  grievous  misunderstanding  should  the  Divine  be 
thought  to  supersede  the  human  ;  instead  of  which,  the  one 
should  stimulate  the  other  to  its  uttermost.  Were  I  made 
to  know  that  Scripture  produced  its  full  effect  upon  th*!; 
heart  through  the  medium  of  the  natural  intellect,  then  I 
VOL-  vii. — O 


314  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

would  just  have  the  same  reason  for  bringing  all  iny  natural 
faculties  into  busy  converse  with  this  volume,  as  in  the 
works  of  ordinary  authorship  ;   but  if,  instead  of  this,  I 
were  made  to  know  that  Scripture  did  not  work  its  full 
effect  save  by  the  intervention  of  a  mighty  and  unseen 
agent,  who  responded  to  my  prayers  and  brought  home 
the  power  and  truth  of  the  word  with  energy  to  my  bosom, 
hut  thi^ough  the  medium  of  the  natural  faculties — then,  so 
far  from  dispensing  with  these,  it  heightens  every  induce- 
ment which  men  had  before  for  bringing  the  intellect  and 
the  Scripture  into  contact  with  each  other.     I  should  like 
that  this  were  pondered  by  you  in  the  proportion  of  its 
importance.     If  barely  told  that  the  letter  of  the  word  was 
not  sufficient  for  being  made  wise  unto  salvation,  but  that 
the  Spirit  was  indispensable,  I  can  imagine  a  laxer  atten- 
tion to  the  Bible  in  consequence  ;  but  if  further  told  that  by 
this  letter,  and  by  it  alone,  the  Spirit  operates  in  the  reveal- 
ing of  truth  to  the  mind,  the  call  upon  our  attention  to  the 
Bible  becomes  as  urgent — or  rather,  if  rightly  considered, 
more  urgent  than  before.     My  veneration  for  the  instru- 
ment and  my  sense  of  its  importance   are  all  the  more 
heightened,  the  more  that  I  am  told  of  the  power  and  dig- 
nity of  that  agent  by  whom  it  is  used.     The  Bible  is  the 
instrument — the  Spirit  is  the  agent.     The  Bible  is  the  seal 
— the  Spirit  is  He  by  whose  strength  alone  the  impression 
of  its  characters  can  be  made  on  the  else  impervious  and 
impracticable  heart  of  man.     I  should  feel  no  heart  for  the 
task  of  restoring  its  faded  and  worn  lineaments,  did  I  know 
that  there  was  no  power  on  earth  that  could  effectually 
impress  it  on  the  subject  to  which  it  was  applied,  and  were 
I  ignorant  of  any  other  power.     But  when  made  to  know 
of  such  a  power  in  heaven,  the  office  of  laboring  to  restore 
the  device  upon  the  seal  to  what  it  originally  was,  becomes 
a  significant  and  hopeful  one  ; — in  other  words,  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Spirit  rightly  understood,  so  far  from  super- 
seding criticism,  gives  an  impulse  to  its  labors.     Did  the 
Spirit  act  by  any  other  channel,  we  could  understand  the 
neglect  and  indifference  of  Christians  towards  the  scholar^ 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  315 

ship  of  the  Bible ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  fact  of  this 
book  being  the  tangible  mean  of  conveyance  between  the 
Spirit  of  God  and  the  soul  of  man,  supplies  the  strongest 
conceivable  motive  for  the  cultivation  of  this  scholarship. 
The  Bible  is  the  common  subject  w^herevv^ith  the  Spirit  of 
God  and  the  spirit  of  man  have  severally  to  do.  It  invests 
the  part  which  man  has  in  it  with  all  the  more  sacred  and. 
awful  importance,  that  when  acquitting  himself  thereof  he 
acts  as  a  fellow- worker  with  God. 

16.  But  let  us  have  done  with  all  these  preUminary 
topics,  and  now  entertain  for  a  little  the  subject  of  Scripture 
criticism  itself. 

17.  In  regard  to  emendatbry  criticism,  I  refer  you  to  the 
ordinary  books  on  the  subject  of  the  various  readings  ;  and 
of  the  rules  by  which  you  may  elicit  from  their  comparison 
the  genuine  or  original  words  of  any  passage  which  is 
differently  presented  to  us  by  the  manuscripts  and  versions 
now  in  existence.  Let  me  now  only  advert  to  the  vivid 
alarm  which  was  at  one  time  felt  in  consequence  of  the 
discoveries  made  upon  this  walk  of  criticism.  When  Mill 
announced  his  thirty  thousand  various  readings,  there  was 
a  general  apprehension  for  the  integrity  of  Scripture. 
Many  excellent  Christians  had  the  feeling  that  all  was  now 
fearfully  unsettled,  and  that  they  were  to  be  left  without  a 
Bible.  Some,  as  we  have  seen,  even  of  our  most  able  and 
intelligent  theologians,  joined  in  this  illiterate  resistance  to 
a  fact  which  rested  on  the  most  palpable  experience.  They 
held  the  Scripture  to  be  alike  incorrupt  and  incorruptible, 
and  in  defense  of  its  integrity,  alleged  the  providence  of 
God.  Such  an  outcry,  raised  in  the  face  of  positive  ob- 
servation, brought  great  discredit  on  the  cause  of  piety. 
It  was  viewed  as  a  collision  between  the  scholars  and  the 
saints,  in  which  the  former  had  all  the  advantage,  and  so 
proved  one  of  those  occasions  by  which  men  were  led  to 
associate  serious  religion,  on  the  one  hand,  with  driveling 
and  contemptible  weakness,  upon  the  other.  It  tended  to 
divorce  more  widely  the  science  of  our  profession  from  its 
sacredness — making  the  one  party  more  suspicious  of  learn- 


316  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ing,  and  the  other,  in  the  pride  of  its  conscious  possession, 
greatly  more  overbearing  than  before ;  yet,  after  all,  it 
turned  out  to  be  a  bugbear ;  and  the  following  important 
and  gratifying  testimonies  from  the  critics  themselves, 
naturally  inclined  as  they  must  have  been  to  magnify  their 
ow^n  office,  must  be  held  vi^orthy  of  the  most  implicit  con- 
fidence upon  this  question. 

18.  Walton,  who  inflicted  such  severe  chastisement  on 
the  impugners  of  his  Polyglot,  and  whom  he  denominates 
the  ranting  enthusiasts  of  the  day,  depones  as  follows : — 
"The  different  readings  out  of  translations  are  of  the  same 
nature  with  those  gathered  out  of  original  copies — that  is, 
they  are  only  in  lesser  matters,  not  in  things  of  any  moment 
or  concernment ;  they  are  such  whereby  our  faith  and 
salvation  are  noway  endangered," — Todd's  Life  of  Walton, 
vol.  ii.  p.  160.  He  allows,  in  his  Prolegomena,  that  they 
contain  nothing  repugnant  to  the  analogy  of  faith  ;  and 
presents  us  there  with  the  following  extract  from  Bochar- 
tus  : — "  Num  multo  aliter  invigilavit  Dei  Providentia,  ut 
sacrse  Scripturse  codices  prsestaret  immunes,  saltem  in  lis 
quse  ad  fidem  et  salutem  sunt  absolute  necessaria.  Unde 
est  quod  ut  Hebrsei  et  Grseci  codices  variant  in  minutulis, 
et  sacri  textus  interpretes  ssepe  in  diversa  abeunt,  tamen  in 
fidei  capitibus  et  rov  vofiov  (3apvTepoLg  eadem  ubique  doctrina 
occurrat,  non  jam  dicam  in  avroypacpoig,  sed  et  in  versioni- 
bus  corruptissimis."  Walton  further  affirms  of  some  vari- 
ous readings,  which  ma.y  seem  to  have  been  made  to  serve 
the  particular  purposes  of  a  party,  "  that  yet  not  any  one 
article  of  faith,  any  doctrine  or  duty,  any  promise  or  threat- 
ening, has  been  affected  thereby,  or  rendered  precarious  by 
any  various  reading  or  corruption." — Todd's  Life  of  Wal- 
ton, vol.  ii.  p.  326.  In  his  Prolegomena  he  gives  us  the 
following  sententious  deliverance  of  Buxtorf  on  the  various 
readings — "  Versantur  enim  potius  circa  opdoypa(piav  quam 
circa  opdodo^iav."  Gerard,  author  of  the  "  Institutes  of 
Biblical  Criticism,"  presents  us  with  the  following  testi- 
mony : — "  When  all  the  copies  of  the  original,  and  all  the 
versions,  agree  in  a  reading,  it  is  certainly  the  true  one ; 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  317 

and  as  that  is  in  general  the  case,  we  have  absolute  assur- 
ance of  the  authenticity  and  purity  of  the  Scriptures  in 
general— greater  assurance  than  with  regard  to  any  other 
book  whatever."  We  shall  conclude  these  quotations  by 
the  following  extracts  from  Marsh's  Michaelis'  Introduc- 
tion to  the  New  Testament,  vol.  i.  pp.  266,  267,  fourth 
edition : — "  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  some  few  of  the 
various  readings  affect  doctrines  as  well  as  words,  and 
without  caution  might  produce  error  ;  but  these  are  so  few, 
that  not  one  of  them  has  been  selected  by  the  reformers  of 
the  present  age  as  the  basis  of  a  new  doctrine."  On  this 
subject  it  is  of  extreme  importance  to  observe,  that  though 
a  reading  should  be  expunged  which  embodies  in  it  some 
capital  doctrine,  it  follows  not  that  the  doctrine  itself  should 
be  expunged.  An  article  is  not  to  be  canceled  from  the 
creed  merely  because  critics  have  demonstrated  that  one 
of  its  proof-passages  ought  to  be  canceled  from  the  record. 
The  following  is  a  most  satisfactory  intimation  by  Michaelis 
to  this  effect: — "It  is  true  that  the  number  of  proof-pas- 
sages in  support  of  certain  doctrines  has  been  diminished 
by  our  knowledge  of  the  various  readings.  We  are  cer- 
tain, for  instance,  that  1  John  v.  7,  is  a  spurious  passage, 
but  the  doctrine  contained  in  it  is  not  therefore  changed, 
since  it  is  delivered  in  other  parts  of  the  New  Testament. 
After  the  most  diligent  inquiry,  especially  by  those  who 
would  banish  the  divinity  of  Christ  from  the  articles  of  our 
religion,  not  a  single  various  reading  has  been  discovered 
in  the  two  principal  passages,  John  i.  1,*  and  Romans  ix. 
5 ;  and  this  very  doctrine,  instead  of  being  shaken  by  the 
collections  of  Mill  and  Wetstein,  has  been  rendered  more 
certain  than  ever.  This  is  so  strongly  felt  by  the  modern 
reformers  in  Germany,  that  they  begin  to  think  less  favor- 
ably of  that  species  of  criticism  which  they  at  first  so 
highly  recommended,  in  the  hope  of  its  leading  to  discov- 
eries more  suitable  to  their  maxims  than  the  ancient 
system." — "  The  most  important  readings  which  make  an 

*  One  variation  has  since  been  discovered  in  the  reading  of  this  verse,  but 
in  a  MS.  of  slender  authority. 


318  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

alteration  in  the  sense,  relate  in  general  to  subjects  that 
have  no  connection  with  articles  of  faith,  of  which  the 
Cambridge  Manuscript,  that  differs  more  than  any  other 
from  the  common  text,  affords  sufficient  proof." — "  By  far 
the  greatest  number  relate  to  trifles,  and  make  no  alter- 
ation in  the  sense,  such  as  Kaycj  for  Kat  eyw,  eXarrcov  for  . 
sXaoocj^v,  KvpLog  for  Qeog,  which  in  most  cases  may  be  used 
indifferently."— Vol.  i.  pp.  266,  267.  This,  then,  is  a  fine 
example  of  the  perfect  safety  wherewith  science  might  be 
permitted  to  take  its  utmost  range  over  the  field  of  theology. 
We  have  nothing  to  apprehend  from  any  variations  which 
have  been  soundly  established  between  the  original  Scrip- 
tures and  our  present  editions  of  the  Greek  New  Testament. 
And  what  is  true  of  emendatory  is  also  true  of  interpreta- 
tive criticism — insomuch  that  all  the  labors  of  all  the  philo- 
logists have  been  unable  to  tarnish  the  character  of  our 
own  authorized  version  as  a  competent  directory  of  faith 
and  practice  to  Christians. 

19.  But  before  proceeding  to  this  latter  subject,  it  is  but 
fair  that  we  should  present  the  following  extract  from 
Michaelis,  observing  first,  however,  that  he  was  very  much 
inclined  to  exaggerate  the  helplessness  of  those  theologians, 
even  in  regard  to  the  essential  subject-matter  of  their  pro- 
fession, who  were  not  thoroughly  accomplished  for  critical 
and  philological  inquiries.  "  If  it  be  asked,"  he  says, 
"whether  these  collections,  and  especially  those  of  Ralph 
and  Kypke,  have  essentially  contributed  to  explain  the 
New  Testament,  I  hesitate  not  a  moment  to  pronounce  in 
the  affirmative.  Ernesti,  unquestionably  a  master  of  the 
Greek  language,  and  celebrated  in  the  republic  of  letters, 
entertains  a  diflferent  opinion  ;  but  on  what  grounds  he 
supports  that  opinion  I  have  never  been  able  to  discover. 
He  says  that  Eisner,  the  best  of  the  critics,  has  hai'dly  ten 
remarks  of  any  consequence.  Now  ten  remarks  that 
render  intelligible  ten  passages  of  the  New  Testament, 
which  were  before  obscure,  are  not  to  be  rejected  with 
contempt;  and  if  every  critic  contributed  in  the  same  pro- 
portion, we  should  make  no  inconsiderable   progress  in 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  319 

exegetical  knowledge.  But  it  seems  extraordinary  that 
Ernesti  should  have  mentioned  Eisner  in  particular,  and 
not  Raphel,  who  had  taken  the  lead  in  this  kind  of  litera- 
ture, and  given  a  philological  explanation  of  many  more 
than  ten  passages,  which  before  his  time  had  appeared 
inexplicable." — Marsh's  Michaelis,  vol.  i.  p.  186.  Now  in 
i-eference  to  these  ten  or  more  important  passages,  you 
will  observe  that  Michaelis  and  others  often  speak  of  im- 
portant readings,  which  yet  affect  none  of  the  principles  of 
Christianity,  whether  doctrinal  or  moral,  although  they 
may  change  our  notions  of  some  historical  facts,  elucidate 
a  narrative  that  was  before  ill  understood,  or  dissipate  the 
obscurity  which  hangs  over  some  practice  or  observation 
of  ancient  times.  Now  what  is  true  of  important  readings 
may  also  be  true  of  important  renderings.  They  may  cast 
a  new  light  on  some  certain  places,  respecting  which  we 
were  in  error  dr  difficulty  before  ;  they  may  even  diminish 
the  number  of  proofs  for  certain  articles  of  our  faith  ;  and 
yet  these  articles,  and  indeed  the  whole  system  of  the 
gospel,  both  with  regard  to  its  credenda  and  agenda^  may 
be  quite  unchanged  by  it.  The  few  extracts  already  given 
suffice  for  the  establishment  of  this  truly  comfortable  affirm- 
ation, both  as  it  regards  the  readings  and  the  renderings 
of  Scripture.  The  following  brief  sentence  from  Walton 
is  abundantly  decisive  of  the  latter,  where  he  speaks  of 
"  the  wonderful  consent  of  all  translations  in  all  things  of 
moment,  though  made  at  different  times,  and  in  several 
nations." — Todd's  Life  of  Walton,  vol.  ii.  p.  92. 

20.  It  should  be  remarked,  however,  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  actual  stability  and  safety  of  Christian  doctrine 
under  all  those  changes  which  have  taken  place  by  the 
carelessness  or  involuntary  mistake  of  transcribers  and 
translators,  the  same  cannot  be  looked  for  in  those  cases 
where,  extensively  and  systematically,  there  has  been  will- 
ful corruption,  and  that  to  serve  the  purposes  of  a  party — 
such  as  the  improved  English  version  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment by  the  Unitarians ;  and  perhaps,  though  in  a  much 
less  degree,  one  or  two  of  the  Catholic  versions  of  Scrip- 


320  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ture.  It  is  wonderful  enough  that  in  every  honest  trans- 
lation the  misreadings  and  misinterpretings  should  have 
affected  the  subject-matter  of  the  Bible  so  little,  and  the 
subject-matter  of  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  as  made  up  of 
things  to  be  believed  and  things  to  be  practiced,  not  at  all. 
This  certainly  is  a  phenomenon  which  deserves  to  be  ac- 
counted for ;  and  the  explanation,  we  are  persuaded,  might 
serve  to  throw  light  both  on  the  objects  and  the  methods 
of  Scripture  criticism. 

21.  But  before  proceeding  to  this,  let  us  observe,  in 
reference  to  Michaelis'  hypothesis  of  each  future  critic  giv- 
ing important  elucidation  to  ten  passages,  that  when  speak- 
ing of  Scriptural  discoveries,  they  are  of  two  distinct  sorts, 
which  ought  not  to  be  confounded.  There  may,  in  the 
first  instance,  be  new  discoveries  made  in  regard  to  the 
meaning  of  words  and  sentences,  as  they  stand  in  the  Bible, 
so  as  to  improve  our  translation,  and  bring  the  sense  of  it 
indefinitely  nearer  to  the  real  sense  of  the  original :  such 
discoveries  fall  within  the  province  of  the  Scripture  critic. 
Or,  in  the  second  instance,  there  may  be  the  discovery  of 
new  relations,  either  between  one  statement  and  another 
of  the  Bible,  or  between  the  statements  of  the  Bible  and 
the  state  of  human  nature.  This  kind  of  discovery  falls 
within  the  province  of  the  theologian ;  and  there  would 
have  just  been  the  same  room  for  it  that  there  is  at  pres- 
ent, although  the  Hellenistic  Greek  had  been  our  vernac- 
ular tongue,  or  the  revelation  had  been  made  to  us  in  our 
present  English  language ;  in  other  words,  though  the 
labors  and  lucubrations  of  philology  had  been  altogether 
uncalled  for.  The  one  kind  of  discovery  is  called  for 
because  of  the  diversity  which  obtains  between  the  original 
languages  of  revelation  and  the  language  of  our  own  coun- 
try ;  and  its  object  is  to  make  the  sense  or  subject-matter 
of  the  translated,  as  near  as  possible  to  the  sense  or  sub- 
ject-matter of  the  original  book.  The  other  kind  of  dis- 
covery is  called  for  by  the  yet  unobserved  relations  that 
obtain  between  the  various  parts  of  this  subject-matter,  or 
the  yet  unmade  applications  of  it  to  the  state  and  condition 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  321 

of  hamanity.  Now  while  on  the  latter  ground,  there  is 
I'oom  for  indefinite  novelty  and  for  endless  illustration,  so 
as  to  liken  in  this  respect  the  study  of  the  word  of  God  to 
the  study  of  His  works  ;  on  the  former  ground  the  field  of 
discovery  is  every  day  becoming  sensibly  narrower  than 
before.  At  the  rate  of  ten  important  passages  for  each 
critic,  they  would  at  length  be  all  overtaken,  when  the 
next  laborer  in  the  field  would  behove  to  sheathe  his  sword 
for  lack  of  argument.  Or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  he 
would,  in  the  number  and  exceeding  nicety  of  minuter 
things,  find  interminable  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  voca- 
tion. He  might  turn  him,  for  example,  to  the  question  of 
the  meaning  which  should  be  attached  to  the  word  ncariKog, 
that  characterizes,  in  some  uncertain  way,  the  spikenard 
poured  by  the  woman  on  the  head  of  Jesus  ;  or  to  the 
word  ovvrpLipaoa,  which  leaves  it  still  undetermined  whether 
she  brake  or  simply  opened  the  box  that  held  it.  (Mark 
xiv.  3.)  The  labor  of  centuries  will  not  finish  these  inves- 
tigations. Time  may  run  indefinitely  on,  as  does  an  asymp- 
tote, and  yet  the  absolute  similarity  of  a  version  to  the 
original  may  never  be  attained — though,  like  as  the  asymp- 
tote to  its  hyperbola,  there  may  constant  and  successive 
approaches  be  making  towards  it.  There  will  always  be 
some  minute  and  microscopic,  though  ever  lessening  dis- 
tance, from  perfection  ;  and  room,  therefore,  to  the  end  of 
the  world,  for  the  exercise  of  a  philology  all  the  more 
refined  and  arduous,  as  it  comes  nearer  to  that  point  which 
it  shall  never  overtake :  yet  who  does  not  see  that  just  in 
proportion  to  this  excess  of  labor  and  exquisiteness  of 
skill,  will  be  the  insignificance  of  its  results  ?  In  propor- 
tion to  the  greatness  of  its  power,  will  be  the  smallness  of 
its  products.  And  meanwhile,  though  an  infinity  of  mar- 
velous achievements  by  criticism  remain  to  be  performed, 
the  materials  of  theology,  whether  for  being  philosophized 
into  a  system,  or  constructed  into  a  directory  of  life  and 
conduct,  are  already  in  our  hands. 

22.  But  it  is  now  time  to  enter  on  our  proposed  explana- 
tion.   Interpretative  criticism  may  be  conceived  of  as  hav- 

o* 


322  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ing  three  distinct  objects:  first, to  ascertain  the  meaning  of 
single  words  or  phrases,  when  the  inquiry  or  the  exercise 
might  be  called  a  philological  one ;  second,  to  ascertain  the 
scope  and  meaning  of  a  passage,  when  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  former,  we  should  say  that  we  were  now  en- 
gaged in  a  contextual  investigation ;  and  third,  to  verify 
or  ascertain  the  articles  of  the  Christian  faith,  when  it 
becomes  what  may  be  termed  a  doctrinal  inquiry.  We  do 
not  say  of  these  three,  the  philological,  the  contextual,  the 
doctrinal,  that  practically  they  stand  apart  from  each  other. 
In  the  act  of  determining  the  meaning,  whether  of  a  pas- 
sage or  the  nature  and  truth  of  a  doctrine,  we  shall  find 
that  these  hinge  on  the  meaning  of  particular  words,  and 
that  we  must  have  recourse  to  the  philological.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  fixing  the  sense  of  a  particular  term  or 
phrase,  we,  have  often  to  borrow  light  from  the  adjoining 
sentences  wherewith  it  stands  in  connection,  or  even  fetch 
it  from  the  greater  distances  of  a  still  wider  and  more 
comprehensive  survey,  as  when  we  found  our  conclusion  on 
the  analogy  of  the  faith,  and  thus  call  in  the  aid  both  of  the 
contextual  and  the  doctrinal.  So  far  from  questioning  the 
mutual  dependence  of  these  several  parts,  it  is  the  very  topic 
or  contemplation  on  which  we  at  present  mean  to  dwell, 
and  that  because  of  certain  most  important  conclusions 
which  we  think  might  be  legitimately  grounded  thereupon. 
23.  In  every  book  of  moral  or  doctrinal  instruction,  it  is 
natural  to  expect  that  the  most  important  truth  will  be  the 
most  pervading — that  just  in  proportion  to  its  value  will 
be  the  frequency  of  its  recurrence,  or  the  number  of  passa- 
ges wherewith,  either  by  direct  avowal,  or  by  implication 
and  allusion,  it  is  in  any  way  interwoven.  This  which 
holds  true  of  such  a  work  even  by  a  single  author,  must  be 
realized  still  more  surely,  and  to  a  much  greater  extent,  if 
the  work  be  made  up  of  contributions  from  many  authors, 
all  related  to  each  other  by  the  tie  of  one  common  disciple- 
ship,  and  all  more  or  less  the  expounders  of  one  great  and 
peculiar  system.  In  each  separate  piece  we  may  expect 
to  meet  with  the  leading  principles  of  that  system ;  and  in 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  323 

very  proportion  to  the  weight  and  magnitude  of  the  truth, 
will  be  the  diffusion  of  it  throughout  the  volume.  Now  this  is 
pre-eminentlythecharacter  of  Scripture,  that  it  is  the  compo- 
.  sition  of  many  hands,  and  therefore  may  we  confidently  look 
for  all  that  is  essential  in  the  doctrine  of  Scripture,  as  being 
the  theme,  direct  or  occasional,  of  very  many  of  its  passages. 
24.  Now  I  would  have  you  attend  to  the  advantage 
which  this  unity,  or  this  harmony  of  subject,  gives  to  a 
translator  in  the  interpretation  of  these  passages.  Each 
confirms  or  reflects  illustration  upon  the  other.  The  light 
is  multiplied  as  if  by  reflection  among  kindred  places;  and 
when  the  apparent  sense  in  one  is  re-echoed  by  a  like  ap- 
parent sense  in  all  the  rest,  it  forms  into  a  crowd  of  testi- 
monies in  behalf  of  the  obvious  interpretation.  This  prin- 
ciple is  abundantly  recognized  in  the  common  rules  which 
are  delivered  by  critics  for  the  interpretation  of  Scripture. 
Gerard  says,  "  that  the  clear  meaning  of  a  phrase  in  any 
part  of  Scripture,  is  great  authority  for  determining  its 
sense  in  any  other  part ;  but  the  usage  of  it  in  any  one 
author  is  the  greatest  authority  for  fixing  its  sense  as 
elsewhere  used  by  the  same  author  ;  for  in  one  writer  a 
greater  similarity  of  style  may  be  expected  than  in  difl^erent 
writers,"  p.  154.  He  elsewhere  observes,  that  "no  doc- 
trine can  belong  to  the  analogy  of  faith,  which  is  founded 
on  a  single  text,  for  every  essential  principle  of  religion  is 
delivered  in  more  than  one  place,"  p.  160.  To  the  same 
effect  we  are  told  in  Stuart's  Ernesti,  that  "  a  student  can 
never  feel  too  deeply  the  importance  of  a  thorough  com- 
parison of  all  those  parts  of  Scripture  which  pertain  to  the 
same  subject ;"  and  that  "  this  comparison  has  more  force 
in  illustrating  the  New  Testament  than  in  the  illustration 
of  either  Greek  or  Latin  authors." — "  To  all  who  admit," 
we  are  further  told,  "  that  the  same  Holy  Spirit  guided 
the  authors  of  the  New  Testament,  and  that  their  views 
of  religion  in  consequence  of  this  must  have  been  harmoni- 
ous, the  inducement  to  the  comparison  of  various  parts  and 
passages  with  each  other,  in  order  to  obtain  a  correct 
view  of  the  whole,  must  be  vtry  great;  and  the  additional 


324  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

force  of  the  evidence  arising  from  comparison,  on  account 
of  the  really  harmonious  views  of  the  writers,  must  make 
thi-s  exercise  the  imperious  duty  of  every  theologian." 

25.  It  is  thus  that  when  an  important  doctrine  occurs  in 
any  part  of  Scripture,  there  is  so  much  help  for  a  right 
translation  of  it  to  be  derived  from  other  parts  of  Scrip- 
ture. These,  in  fact,  are  the  occasions  when  a  rare  and 
recondite  philology  is  least  needed  and  least  called  for ; 
or  the  occasions  upon  which  a  translator,  even  of  inferior 
skill  and  accompUshment,  is  the  least  likely  to  go  astray. 
You  will  thus  perceive  that  our  security  for  a  right  trans- 
lation is  the  greatest,  when  it  is  of  most  importance  that  it 
should ;  and  you  will  also  perceive  how  it  is  that  even  in 
the  most  slovenly  and  careless  of  its  versions,  all  the  essen- 
tial truths  of  the  Bible  are  conveyed  to  us.  This  surely 
should  be  felt  as  a  blissful  conclusion,  and  which  all  who 
take  an  interest  in  the  religion  of  the  world  ought  to  rejoice 
in,  that  even  by  hands  which  are  not  the  most  practiced 
or  the  most  skillful,  the  essential  aliment  of  the  soul  might 
be  served  up  to  all  the  nations  that  are  upon  the  face  of 
the  earth.  It  is  not  that  we  would  wilHngly  dispense  with 
the  most  consummate  scholarship  which  is  to  be  found  for 
the  execution  of  all  Scripture  translations  :  we  simply  make 
an  averment,  which  if  true  is  most  important  in  itself,  and 
for  the  truth  of  which  the  most  consummate  scholars  who 
ever  labored  in  the  service  of  the  Church  have  given  us 
their  testimony.  "  Tamen,"  says  Bochartus,  "  in  fidei  ca- 
pitibus,  et  tov  voybov  rote  (3apvrepoLg,  eadem  doctrina  ubique 
occurit,  non  jam  dicam  in  avroypacpoig  sed  et  in  versioni- 
bus  corruptissimis."  This  sentence  is  quoted  with  appro- 
bation by  Grotius,  that  great  Goliath  of  literature,  and  is 
in  perfect  accordance  indeed  with  the  approbation  of  all 
honest  critics  and  grammarians,  who  have  remarked  as  a 
thing  of  general  notoriety,  "  the  wonderful  consent  of  all 
translations  in  all  things  of  moment,  though  made  at  sev- 
eral times  and  in  several  nations."  Or  to  express  it  in  the 
language  of  Gerard,  in  his  Institutes  of  Biblical  Criticism, 
"  There  is  scarcely  any  version  which  does  not  express  the 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  325 

sense  of  Scripture,  as  far  as  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  be 
known  by  those  who  have  no  other  means  of  learning  it." 

26.  So  much  at  present  for  the  doctrinal.  The  contex- 
tual stands  distinguished  from  the  doctrinal  in  this  that  its 
object  is  not  to  ascertain  or  find  support  for  an  article  of 
faith  ;  and  from  the  philological  in  this,  that  its  object  is 
not  to  fix  the  meaning  of  a  word  or  a  phrase,  but  the  mean- 
ing of  a  sentence  or  the  meaning  of  a  passage.  It  gathers 
light  and  evidence  for  its  interpretations  from  a  narrower 
field  than  the  doctrinal ;  and  in  certain  instances  from  a 
wider  field  than  the  philological.  In  the  doctrinal,  we  are 
often  able  to  plead  the  consent  of  testimonies  that  lie  scat- 
tered over  the  whole  compass  of  the  record.  But  in  the 
contextual,  the  light  which  is  made  to  fall  upon  the  text 
is  taken  chiefly  from  the  context.  In  the  former,  the  text 
is  shone  upon,  from  many  and  distinct  places,  all  over  the 
volume.  In  this  latter,  the  text  is  shone  upon  chiefly  from 
the  context.  It  is  the  doctrinal  light  in  the  one  case,  and 
this  contextual  light  in  the  other,  which  clears  up  the 
meaning  in  so  very  many  instances,  without  the  aid  of 
any  very  elaborate  philology.  The  harmony  of  the  whole 
volume  bears  evidence  to  the  first  sort  of  interpretations. 
The  harmony  of  a  whole  passage  bears  evidence  to  the 
second  ;  and  thus  it  is  that  in  almost  every  version  of 
Scripture,  even  those  which  have  been  executed  by  the 
moderately  learned,  the  essential  doctrines  have  all  been 
accurately  rendered,  and  the  scope  and  substantial  mean- 
ing of  each  continuous  passage  has  been  accurately  given. 

27.  We  now  pass  on  to  the  philological ;  and  we  have 
first  to  observe,  that  here  also  a  reflex  and  multiple  light, 
drawn  from  a  wide  field  of  comparison,  can  be  made  to 
fall  on  the  import  of  words  and  phrases.  With  vocables 
of  frequent  recurrence,  and  expressions  of  frequent  recur- 
rence, the  work  of  translation  is  easy.'  The  truth  is,  that 
for  the  meaning  of  common  words  and  phrases,  we  have 
far  more  abundant  evidence  than  for  the  truth  of  the 
commonest  doctrines,  whether  in  science  or  theology — ^as 
being  of  vastly  more  frequent  recurrence,  because  used 


326  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

upon  all  subjects,  and  not  restricted  to  any  one  in  particu- 
lar. Hence  it  is  that  nothing  can  exceed  the  justness  or 
the  importance  of  the  following  statement  by  Ernesti : — 
"  Scripture  cannot  be  studied  theologically  until  it  is  studied 
grammatically,"  p.  42.  "Interpretation  should  rather  be 
grammatical  than  doctrinal.  In  comparing  reasons  for  the 
exegesis  of  particular  passages,  greater  weight  should  be 
attributed  to  grammatical  than  doctrinal  ones.  A  thing 
may  be  altogether  true  in  doctrine  which  yet  is  not  taught 
by  some  particular  passages.  Books  of  theology  exhibit 
many  doctrinal  interpretations,  consentaneous  indeed  with 
Christian  principles,  but  not  deduced  from  the  words  in- 
terpreted ;  doctrinally  true,  but  not  grammatically J^  A 
doctrine  which  is  frequently  stated  in  Scripture,  will  not 
always,  will  not  generally,  be  stated  in  phraseology  of  rare 
occurrence,  and  therefore  of  difficult  comprehension.  The 
very  principle  which  dictates  the  frequent,  will  also  dictate 
the  perspicuous  mention  of  it;  so  that  the  grammatical  true- 
ness  may  be  quite  obvious,  and  thus  carry  a  full  and  im- 
mediate conviction  in  its  doctrinal  trueness.  It  is  unques- 
tionable that  our  perception  of  the  grammatical  must  precede 
our  perception  of  the  doctrinal  trueness;  or,  in  other  words, 
that  philology  is  the  basis  of  our  theology.  This  is  quite 
true,  but  it  is  just  as  true  that  all  which  is  most  important 
in  theology  rests  on  the  basis,  of  an  obvious  philology,  and 
that  when  the  services  of  an  arduous  and  recondite  philology 
are  required  for  the  purposes  of  discovery,  that  discovery 
relates  to  a  matter  of  inferior  consequence.  Though,  there- 
fore, the  term  philological  has  been  restricted  by  us  to  the 
third  branch  of  interpretation,  it  is  not  because  the  whole 
business  of  interpretation  is  not  a  work  of  philology.  But 
in  the  two  first  branches,  this  philology  is  aided  by  such  an 
amount  of  consentaneous  light  from  other  parts  of  the 
volume,  as  to  make  it  a  competent  work  even  for  a  less 
skillful  and  accomplished  linguist — whereas  in  the  last 
branch,  philology,  abandoned  by  the  lights  which  shine 
upon  the  other  two,  is  put  upon  her  extreme  resources  for 
the  solution  of  her  extreme  difficulties. 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  327 

28.  It  is  when  the  words  and  phrases  in  the  original  are 
rare  or  anomalous,  or,  most  of  all,  unexampled,  that  the 
work  of  translation  becomes  so  critically  arduous.  What 
have  been  called  the  ana^  Xeyofieva  of  Scripture,  whether 
consisting  of  single  words,  or  of  several  words  combined 
into  a  phrase,  are  far  the  most  trying  to  the  philological 
skill  of  those  who  grapple  with  them.  For  want  of  other 
Scripture  wherewith  to  compare  them,  analogies  must  be 
sought  for  from  other  quarters.  The  whole  round  of  Greek 
and  Hebrew  literature  may  need  to  be  traveled  through. 
Perhaps  the  scholar  who  has  spent  a  whole  life  in  accumu- 
lating the  treasures  of  classic  and  rabbinical  lore,  is  the  only 
one  adequately  furnished  for  the  solution  of  some  else  im- 
practicable text,  which  owns  no  community  with,  and  there- 
fore can  derive  no  illustration  from,  any  of  its  fellows.  Per- 
haps the  incidental  expression  of  some  rarely  consulted 
author — perhaps  the  discovery  of  some  local  and  ancient 
custom  before  unnoticed  or  unknown — may  shed  a  pleasing 
radiance  over  some  scriptural  enigma  that  had  withstood 
the  research  and  ingenuity  of  ages.  Nothing  certainly  can 
be  more  delightful  than  the  triumph  of  such  an  eclaircisse- 
ment ;  but  I  put  it  to  your  own  judgment  to  say,  whether 
that  singularity  of  character  to  which  all  its  difficulty  was 
owing,  does  not  form  the  strongest  presumption  against  the 
doctrinal  or  practical  importance  of  it  ?  Is  it  in  such  a  rare 
or  hardly  accessible  situation  as  this,  that  you  would  expect 
to  meet  with  any  of  the  great  generalities  of  Christian  truth ; 
or  rather,  like  the  cheap  and  common  bounties  of  nature, 
will  they  not  both  be  so  placed  and  so  disseminated,  that 
the  eye  might  easily  see,  and  the  hand  might  readily  appre- 
hend them  ?  The  affirmation  may  startle  you,  yet  never- 
theless I  confidently  make  it.  When  for  the  elucidation  of 
any  text,  philology  needs  to  be  put  upon  her  extreme  re- 
sources, that  text  is  in  theology  what  nugce  dlfficiles  are  in 
science.  It  occupies  the  same  place  in  the  system  of  nature 
that  a  lums  naturce  does  in  the  system  of  the  universe. 

29.  My  object,  as  you  will  find  presently,  is  not  to  depre- 
ciate the  importance  of  your  philological  studies :  but  it  is 


328  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

to  reduce  a  certein  exaggerated  imagination,  which  has  of 
late  begun  to  prevail  in  Scotland,  respecting  the  amount  and 
value  of  those  hidden  treasures  that  are  yet  to  be  found  by 
our  deeper  insight  into  the  original  languages.  The  truth 
is,  that  we  are  behind  our  neighbors  in  the  South,  and  still 
more  behind  the  Biblists  in  Germany,  not  in  all  the  branches 
certainly,  but  in  the  philological  branch  of  Scripture  criti- 
cism ;  and  visited  as  we  have  recently  been  by  a  conscious- 
ness of  this,  we,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  maxim  that 
ignorance  is  the  mother  of  devotion,  conceive  most  extrava- 
gantly of  the  pretensions  and  the  powers  of  this  unpracticed 
instrument,  as  if  it  were  to  unlock  a  thousand  mysteries; 
and,  as  if  by  the  operation  of  a  talisman,  it  were  mightily 
to  renovate  and  enlarge  the  theology  of  our  land.  On  the 
strength  of  the  principles  which  we  have  just  now  tried  to 
expound,  we  venture  to  predict  that  these  anticipations  will 
not  be  realized.  Even  though  we  were  wholly  incapable 
of  following  the  processes  of  this  philological  criticism,  we 
have  only  to  look  at  the  results  of  it,  in  order  to  assure  our- 
selves that  whatever  its  achievements  may  be  in  things 
which  are  minute,  they  will  be  but  few  and  trivial  in  things 
which  are  momentous.  As  an  experimental  proof  of  this, 
we  bid  you  compare  the  translation  of  the  four  gospels  by 
Dr.  Campbell  with  that  in  our  authorized  version,  and  then 
estimate  the  whole  doctrinal  amount  of  the  difference  that  is 
between  them.  Or,  more  decisive  still,  take  the  Recensio 
Synoptica  of  Bloomfield,  extending  to  the  whole  of  the  New 
Testament ;  and,  after  adopting  all  his  emendations,  then 
say,  whether  it  would  not  remain  essentially  the  same  Bible 
with  that  which  is  read  in  our  parish  schools,  and  is  placed 
on  the  shelves  of  our  unlettered  peasantry.  Yet  he  pro- 
fesses to  have  traversed  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of 
this  literature  ;  and  we  rejoice  so  to  understand  it.  It 
palpably  demonstrates  how  entire  the  transfusion  is  of  the 
substance  of  divine  truth  into  the  popular  version  of  our 
own  land ;  and  we  may  safely  add,  with  very  rare  excep- 
tions, into  all  the  popular  versions  of  Christendom.  It  shows 
that  there  are  a  force  and  an  obviousness  in  the  doctrines 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  329 

of  revelation,  in  virtue  of  which,  without  the  guidance  of 
the  most  consummate  skill,  they  do  find  an  effective  convey- 
ance across  the  barrier  of  diverse  tongues,  so  as  with  their 
change  of  dress  to  remain  the  same  in  sentiment  and  in 
staple  as  before.  Humbling  it  may  be  to  the  overweening 
pretensions  of  philology  ;  but  this  is  nobly  compensated  by 
the  thought  that  even  the  uninitiated  in  its  mysteries,  who 
compose  the  great  bulk  of  our  population,  have  access  to 
those  higher  mysteries  to  which  the  former  stand  but  in  the 
relation  of  subserviency — that  placed  at  a  distance  from  the 
fountainhead  of  inspired  truth,  they  nevertheless  may  one 
and  all  of  them  drink  so  purely  and  so  plentifully  from  its 
streams — that  the  doctrines  and  informations  of  Scripture 
are  mainly  in  their  possession ;  and  though  to  their  eye 
there  hangs  a  hieroglyphic  vail  over  the  original  terms  of 
God's  communication,  that  yet  in  reference  to  its  enduring 
truths  the  vail  is  drawn  aside,  and  all  its  best  treasures,  all 
its  highest  glories,  are  their  own. 

30.  We  repeat,  that  it  is  far,  very  far,  from  our  purpose, 
to  depreciate  the  cause  of  a  sound  and  thorough  philological 
education  for  students  of  divinity,  but  we  would  have  them 
look  intelligently  to  this  as  to  everything  else  connected 
with  their  profession ;  and  there  is  a  pedantry  to  which  our 
own  country  stands  at  this  moment  peculiarly  exposed,  and 
which  really  needs  to  be  put  down.  The  truth  is,  that  we 
are  under  process  of  recovery  from  a  state  of  comparative 
depression  as  to  classical  literature  ;  and  it  is  unavoidable 
that  some  should  outstrip  the  rest  in  this  ascending  move- 
ment to  a  higher  and  a  better  proficiency  in  the  languages. 
Now,  it  is  most  natural,  though  still  but  natural  vanity,  for 
man  to  magnify  the  power  of  his  own  acquisitions,  and  that 
just  in  proportion  to  their  difficulty  and  rareness  ;  and  so, 
if  at  all  versant  in  the  philology  of  Scripture,  he  is  apt  to 
imagine  that  he  alone  holds  the  cipher  by  which  to  evolve 
upon  the  world  the  mysteries  of  an  else  hidden  and  im- 
^Dracticable  region.  Now,  while  it  is  quite  palpable  that  to 
philology,  more  or  less,  we  owe  the  existence  of  all  the 
versions  of  Scripture,  and  many  of  the  lucubrations  of  criti- 


330  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

cism,  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  a  mere  philological  divine, 
accomplished  though  he  be  for  grappling  v^ith  the  most 
arduous  texts  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  may  yet, 
instead  of  a  philosopher,  be  a  mere  virtuoso  in  the  science 
of  theology.  He  may  have  appropriated  the  meaning  of 
many,  and  these  the  most  difficult  of  its  individual  sayings, 
and  yet  its  great  principles,  the  harmony  of  its  truths,  and 
their  marvelous  adaptations  to  the  mechanism  of  human 
nature,  may  all  be  unknown  to  him.  He  may  just  be  in  our 
science  what  the  dilettante  collector  of  rare  and  curious 
specimens  is  in  natural  history— the  triumphant  owner  of 
its  anomalies  and  its  wonders,  and  yet  in  utter  ignorance  of 
those  classifications  or  comprehensive  arrangements  by 
which  alone  we  can  systematize  nature,  or  group  its  mighty 
host  of  individual  objects  into  families.  The  analyst  of  a 
curious  text  may  learn  as  little  from  it  of  the  economy  or 
administration  of  the  spiritual  heavens,  as  the  analyst  of  a 
meteoric  stone,  of  the  economy  of  those  material  heavens 
from  which  it  has  fallen.  The  one  may  be  as  little  a  theolo- 
gian as  the  other  an  astronomer.  For  instance,  he  may 
unravel  the  expression  of  (Banri^ouevoL  virep  rijdv  veKpcjv,  and 
bring  to  light  the  yet  undecided  meaning  of  the  apostle, 
when  he  speaks  of  those  who  were  baptized  for  the  dead  ; 
or  he  may  discover  in  his  researches  who  the  wyyeXoi  were 
of  the  primitive  churches,  and  so  explain  to  us  why  the 
women  should  wear  long  hair  because  of  the  angels  ;  or  he 
may  settle  that  sorely  controverted  text  of  Matt,  xxvii.  5, 
on  which  more  has  been  written,  to  the  amount  of  whole 
volumes,  than  on  any  other  verse  of  the  Bible  ;  and  this,  by 
the  way,  is  our  best  example  of  a  mighty  addition  in  bulk 
to  the  Scripture  criticism  of  theology,  without  any  addition 
in  weight  or  in  principle  to  the  science  of  it — its  sole  object 
being  to  fix  the  sense  of  the  word  anrjy^aro,  and  so  to  ascer- 
tain the  precise  kind  of  death  that  Judas  underwent — 
whether  by  mental  agony,  or  by  hanging,  or  by  a  fall  in 
virtue  of  the  insufficient  rope  wherewith  he  was  suspended. 
Now,  I  am  not  indifferent  to  any  of  these  solutions.  I 
desiderate  them  all:  and  should  esteem  it  an  honorable  dis- 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  331 

tinction  for  our  Church,  that  she  harbored  within  her  con- 
fines the  scholar  that  could  accompHsh  them.  Yet  though 
he  accomplished  these,  and  a  hundred  such  solutions,  and 
so  justly  earned  the  credit  of  being  a  profound  philologist, 
there  needs  something  more  and  something  else  ere  he  shall 
earn  the  farther  and  the  higher  credit  of  being  a  profound 
theologian. 

31.  And  what,  we  have  sometimes  thought,  would  have 
become  of  these  pretenders  to  theology  had  we  all  been 
born  under  the  misfortune  of  having  the  Hellenistic  Greek 
for  our  vernacular  tongue,  or  had  we  spoken  from  child- 
hood in  the  very  words  and  idioms  of  the  New  Testament  ? 
The  greater  part  of  our  present  philological  criticism  would 
have  been  uncalled  for,  and  its  enamored  adepts  would 
have  been  sadly  abridged  in  their  favorite  exercise.  It  is 
true,  we  should  have  advanced  one  step  nearer  to  the  sub- 
ject-matter of  theology  ;  but  to  hear  those  who  talk  of  ac- 
quaintance with  the  original  languages  as  all  in  all,  we 
should  have  altogether  lost  the  science  of  it.  Be  assured 
that,  at  this  rate,  things  are  taken  in  an  inverse  order.  The 
study  of  words  is  prior  in  time,  but  surely  not  in  import- 
ance to  the  study  of  things,  seeing  that  to  the  latter  it  stands 
altogether  in  the  relation  of  subserviency.  The  science  of 
theology  does  not  end  with  the  task  of  the  philologist :  it 
only  begins  there.  Philology  does  not  present  us  with  the 
science :  at  the  very  best,  it  furnishes  but  the  raw  materi- 
als of  the  science.  And  not  he  who  but  holds  converse 
with  the  terms,  but  he  who  holds  converse  with  the  truths 
which  are  conveyed  by  them,  he  it  is  who  is  really  the 
theologian. 

32.  To  sum  up  these  observations.  I  have  first  endeav- 
ored to  make  it  palpable  to  you,  that  what  is  most  import- 
ant in  the  volume,  is  also  in  general  most  pervading ;  and 
that  thus  there  is  least  danger  of  missing  the  sense  in  those 
passages  where  the  subject-matter  is  of  the  most  vital  con- 
sequence. It  is  thus  that,  I  will  not  say  in  our  most  corrupt, 
but  in  our  most  careless  and  illiterate,  if  only  honest,  ver- 
sions, all  the  capita  fidei,  the  main  and  leading  articles  of 


332  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

Christianity,  are  to  be  found  ;  so  that  even  by  hands  neither 
the  most  skillful  nor  the  most  practiced,  translations  have 
been  executed,  which,  vs^ith  all  their  defects,  have  been  the 
instruments  of  upholding  the  faith  and  religious  knowledge 
of  the  nations  of  Christendom.  But  secondly,  what  is  true 
of  the  doctrinal,  is  true  also,  though  in  a  less  degree,  of  the 
contextual — in  the  one,  there  being  for  our  guidance  the 
harmony  of  a  whole  work  ;  in  the  other,  the  harmony  of  a 
whole  passage.  In  virtue  of  this  contextual  light,  not  only 
are  the  great  truths  of  Christianity  accurately  rendered  in 
all  our  popular  versions,  but  seldom  does  it  occur  that  the 
scope  or  general  purport  of  any  lengthened  passage  is  in- 
accurately given.  When  is  it  then  that  philology  is  put  on 
its  uttermost  resources,  and  its  most  accomplished  adepts 
and  disciples  are  called  upon  for  the  highest  exercise  of 
their  skill  ?  It  is  when,  abandoned  by  the  lights  both  of  the 
doctrinal  and  the  contextual,  some  isolated  sentence  stands 
unsupported  and  alone,  without  the  aid  or  the  countenance 
of  any  kindred  Scripture  whatever.  Hence  it  is,  that  when 
the  meaning  of  a  passage  requires  the  most  strenuous  efforts 
of  philology,  then  it  is  that  its  services  are  of  the  least  prac- 
tical importance  ;  that  the  one,  in  fact,  stands  in  an  inverse 
proportion  to  the  other  ;  and  so  we  come  to  the  conclusion, 
that  a  mere  philological  divine  overrates  exceedingly  the 
importance  of  his  instrument,  when  he  thinks  that  by  it  he 
is  to  unlock  such  treasures  as  shall  mightily  enrich  and  en- 
large the  theology  of  our  land  ;  that  philology  still  remains 
to  us  an  instrument  of  discovery  in  things  that  are  minute, 
but  is  not  an  instrument  of  discovery  in  things  that  are  mo- 
mentous. 

33.  I  trust  you  now  perceive  the  consistency  of  these 
two  positions  ;  first,  the  importance  of  Scripture  criticism 
looked  to  generally,  as  without  it  there  could  have  been  no 
interpretation  at  all  of  the  sacred  writings,  and  so  no  access 
to  the  mind  and  will  of  God  as  expressed  by  revelation  from 
heaven.  But  secondly,  the  unimportance  of  those  more 
arduous  results  which  are  furnished  by  an  extreme  and 
elaborate  philology.     To  deny  the  former,  were  just  to 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  333 

deny  the  importance  of  all  sacred  knowledge.  This  there- 
fore must  be  conceded  ;  and  yet  it  may  be  just  as  true,  that 
there  is  little  of  real  substantive  value,  whether  doctrinally 
or  practically,  in  any  of  those  discoveries  which  are  evolved 
by  the  higher,  or  rather,  the  more  difficult  and  strenuous 
efforts  of  Scripture  criticism.  The  easier  w^ork  of  a  trans- 
lator may  bring  into  our  possession  all  that  is  momentous, 
or  which  enters  into  the  theological  system — though  it  may 
leave  much  that  is  minute,  which  is  also  curious  and  inter- 
esting, still  unsettled  and  still  unappropriated.  The  mis- 
take lies  in  not  making  the  distinction  between  that  criti- 
cism which  is  the  higher  in  point  of  importance,  though  the 
lower  in  point  of  accomplishment ;  and  that  criticism  which 
is  the  higher  in  point  of  accomplishment,  though  in  point  of 
importance  it  adds  little  or  nothing  to  those  achievements 
which  the  humbler  and  homelier  instrument  already  has 
performed.  It  is  the  announcement  so  oft  repeated  by 
Michaelis  and  others,  as  if  Scripture  criticism,  in  the  very 
highest  style  of  it,  were  essential  to  the  formation  of  an 
intelligent  theologian  which  I  think  so  fitted  to  do  mischief. 
It  gives  the  impression  of  certain  lofty  and  recondite  mys- 
teries in  theology  to  which  they  alone  have  access,  and  no 
others.  It  tends  to  cast  a  certain  hieroglyphical  obscurity 
over  the  science,  and  to  make  the  multitude  feel  as  if  at  a 
fearful  and  impracticable  distance  from  its  revelations.  We 
are  not  sure,  but  that  under  the  guise  of  learning,  it  would 
go  to  establish  a  monopoly  and  a  despotism  as  hurtful  to 
the  species  as  that  which  has  already  been  wielded  under 
the  tyranny  of  an  odious  superstition.  Whatever,  in  fact, 
is  of  higher  pretense  than  it  is  of  performance,  becomes  to 
the  credulous  and  the  weak  an  object  of  superstitious  ven- 
eration. It  is  thus  that  a  dangerous  authority  may  be 
claimed  and  exercised  by  him  whom  the  world  looks  up  to 
as  an  adept  in  Scripture  criticism,  as  if  the  instrument  in 
his  possession  were  a  magician's  wand,  by  which  he  could 
charm  a  new  theology  into  being,  or  lay  dishonor  on  the 
whole  of  our  existing  theology.  At  this  rate,  to  all  but  the 
initiated  in  the  deeper  secrets  of  philology,  revealed  truth 


334  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

would  be  put  into  a  state  of  precariousness ;  and  to  save 
the  Church  at  large  this  painful  feeling  of  insecurity,  it  is 
of  importance  to  show  that  there  is  a  stable  scriptural  the- 
ology to  which  ordinary  scholars  have  access,  and  of  which 
even  our  common  versions  give  a  near  and  adequate  repre- 
sentation— which  theology,  the  hostility  of  the  transcend- 
ental criticism  can  not  reach,  and  which,  by  all  its  art  and 
all  its  power,  is  completely  unassailable. 

34.  But  while  I  have  said  thus  much  to  demonstrate  the 
unproductiveness  now  of  philological  criticism  in  the  way 
of  discovery,  let  me  not  be  understood  to  depreciate  its 
value  or  to  discourage  the  study  of  it ;  because,  however 
little  fitted  it  may  be  for  the  discharge  of  one  function,  it 
may  be  of  supreme  and  indispensable  value  for  the  discharge 
of  another  function.  What  these  functions  are,  let  me  state 
in  one  sentence.  However  barren  the  transcendental  crit- 
icism may  prove  for  the  purposes  of  discovery,  it  may  be 
all  in  all  for  the  purposes  of  defense.  But  before  I  say  any 
more  in  regard  to  this  latter  function,  let  me  notice,  that 
even  irrespective  of  this,  and  previous  to  this  consideration, 
and  though  I  can  not  bid  you,  as  matters  now  stand,  look 
for  much  from  Scripture  criticism  in  the  way  of  discovery, 
yet  I  would  have  you  prosecute  its  lessons  to  the  uttermost 
that  your  taste  would  excite,  or  your  opportunities  may 
allow.  You  may  feel  it  no  great  encouragement  to  be  told 
that  the  worth  of  the  discoveries  themselves  becomes  of 
less  account  just  as  the  work  of  discovery  becomes  more 
arduous.  This  may  perhaps  repel  you  from  the  enterprise 
of  being  a  master  in  the  art,  but  it  forms  no  reason  why 
you  should  not  be  an  accomplished  scholar  therein.  And 
you  will  remember  that  it  is  far  easier  to  discern  the  truths 
which  are  known,  than  to  discover  the  truths  which  are 
unknown.  To  be  accomplished  in  this  literature  up  to  its 
present  limits,  you  will  only  have  to  discern — it  is  to  extend 
these  limits  that  you  would  have  to  discover.  I  cannot 
consistently  with  the  real  state  of  the  case,  promise  to  the 
few  much  of  important  novelty  in  the  one  enterprise  ;  but 
[  would  have  the  many  to  embark  upon  the  other.     I  would 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  335 

have  all,  indeed,  to  be  familiar  with  the  Scriptures  in  their 
original  languages,  and  to  be  at  least  conversant  in  the  crit- 
ical works  of  Gerard,  and  Campbell,  and  Matthew  Poole, 
and  Marsh,  and  Moses  Stuart,  besides  the  Prolegomena  of 
Walton  and  Mill  and  Wetstein  and  Griesbach.  Scripture 
criticism  is  that  in  which  the  learning  of  our  Church  is  most 
deficient ;  and  there  are  few  things  in  which  I  would  more 
sincerely  rejoice  than  in  seeing  that  deficiency  repaired. 
It  is  incumbent  upon  every  student  of  divinity  at  least  to 
enter  on  this  subject  ;  and  I  doubt  not  that  in  this  case  a 
goodly  number  would  overtake  the  whole  of  its  existing 
literature.  It  is  no  more  than  respectable  that  you  should 
be  able  to  see  with  your  ovv^n  eyes,  both  the  integrity  of  our 
received  copies,  and  the  truth  and  justness  of  our  received 
interpretations.  Others  may  take  both  the  words  of  the 
Bible  and  their  meaning  upon  trust ;  but  it  is  for  you,  the 
future  instructors  of  a  lettered  and  intellectual  Church,  to 
lift  yourselves  up  above  this  dependence — the  dependence 
of  the  blind  upon  their  leaders.  Your  office  as  masters  in 
Israel  will  be  to  "  read  in  the  book  of  the  law  of  God  dis- 
tinctly, and  give  the  sense,  and  cause  the  people  to  under- 
stand the  reading."  From  you,  as  the  reservoirs  of  sacred 
knowledge,  they  will  draw  their  immediate  supplies  ;  but 
as  reservoirs  must  be  in  communication  with  the  fountain- 
head,  so  ought  you  with  the  original  records  of  inspiration. 
It  is  a  wretched  thing  for  the  teachers  of  Christianity  to 
depend  on  the  judgment  of  others,  either  for  a  right  reading 
or  a  right  rendering  of  Scripture.  You  must  be  able  to 
exercise  an  independent  judgment  of  your  own,  else  w^hat 
will  you  do  when  the  high  authorities  are  at  variance — 
when  Michaelis  controverts  Wetstein,  and  Marsh  contro- 
verts them  both.  It  is  not  necessary  that  like  them  you 
should  be  original  laborers;  but,  standing  in  the  same* re- 
lation to  them  that  a  reading  and  intelligent  public  do  to 
the  authors  who  address  them,  it  is  your  part  to  understand 
their  arguments,  and  to  sit  in  judgment  over  them.  Though 
you  may  never  discover,  you  should  be  at  all  times  able  to 
discern.     They  are  the  producers ;  but  you  should  be  the 


336  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

overseers  or  inspectors  of  every  article  submitted  to  your 
notice  ;  and  I  should  like  to  see,  on  the  appearance  of  a 
new  critical  work,  a  busy  play  of  thought  and  intelHgent 
conversation  amongst  you.  The  clergy,  in  fact,  form  alniost 
the  alone  public  for  the  reception  and  encouragement  of 
this  sort  of  authorship ;  and  we  again  repeat,  how  desira- 
ble it  is  that,  if  not  yourselves  the  originators,  you  should 
at  least  be  the  tasteful  and  intelligent  readers  in  the  very 
highest  of  this  authorship. 

35.  But  I  must  confess  that  both  my  ambition  and  my 
hopes  go  further  than  this.  I  am  aware  that  each  study 
has  a  fascination  of  its  own  ;  and  that  even  in  the  thorniest 
walks  of  criticism,  there  are  certain  flowers  and  flavors  in 
which  the  very  peculiar  senses  of  some  are  fitted  to  luxuri- 
ate. We  believe,  indeed,  of  the  most  repulsive  kinds  of 
mental  employment,  that  in  each  there  is  some  special  sat- 
isfaction, unknown  to  all  but  those  who  have  the  courage 
to  persevere  in  it.  We  believe,  for  example,  that  Michaelis, 
amid  the  researches  of  critical  and  antiquarian  lore,  spent 
a  life  of  great  enjoyment ;  and  that  just  in  proportion  to 
the  agony  of  his  indignation  at  the  librarian  and  the  rocket- 
maker,  who  made  a  sacrifice  between  them  of  the  Complu- 
tensian  manuscripts,  would  have  been  the  ecstasy  of  his 
feelings  on  such  a  treasure  being  put  into  his  hands.  We 
think  w^e  can  imagine,  though  ashamed  to  say  that  yet  we 
do  not  fully  sympathize  in,  the  gusto  wherewith  a  certain 
few  will  set  themselves  down  among  the  torn  or  faded 
parchments  and  the  uncial  characters  of  other  days.  Though 
we  do  not  share  in  this  propensity  so  much  as  we  ought, 
yet  we  are  fully  persuaded  of  its  vigorous  existence  some- 
where ;  and  with  no  other  warrant  for  our  confidence  than 
the  mere  arithmetic  of  chances,  I  fondly  calculate  that, 
among  the  hundreds  who  pass  before  me,  for  the  many  who 
should  be  the  accomplished  scholars  in  biblical  criticism,  a 
few  will  be  its  passionate  and  devoted  amateurs.  Could 
we  get  numbers  to  engage  in  the  study,  w^e  feel  pretty  con- 
fident that  some  would  be  smitten  with  it.  In  a  science  of 
such  manifold  pursuits,  and  where  there  is  room  for  such 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  337 

varied  excellence,  we  could  not  well  afford  a  universal 
mania  in  any  one  direction.  But  for  the  full  equipment  of 
our  Church  there  should  be  laborors,  and,  if  possible,  of  the 
first  eminence,  in  every  direction.  The  walk  of  Scripture 
criticism  is  that  which  at  present  is  most  unoccupied. 
Should  I  know  but  one  instance  of  a  powerful  affinity  for 
this  study,  and  an  intense  prosecution  thereof,  I  would  do 
my  uttermost  to  foster  and  patronize  it — feeling  as  I  do  of 
this  class-room  that  one  of  its  proudest  literary  honors  would 
be  that  there  had  issued  from  its  walls  some  future  Gries- 
bach  of  Scotland. 

36.  But  let  me  not  forget  the  far  higher  importance  of 
the  acquirement  than  that  of  a  mere  literary  gratification. 
You  will  not  have  proceeded  far  in  the  study  without  being 
able  to  distinguish  between  those  parts  of  it  which  minister 
to  speculative  curiosity,  and  those  which  are  of  momentous 
application  in  questions  that  relate  to  the  subject-matter  of 
Christianity.  You  will  be  delighted  to  find,  that,  agreeably 
to  all  our  principles,  the  evidence  in  matters  of  essential 
doctrine  is  far  more  obvious  and  accessible  than  in  many 
controverted  passages,  whose  determination  involves  noth- 
ing that  is  of  the  slightest  consequence  to  faith  or  practice. 
But  how  inexcusable  not  to  be  in  possession  of  this  evidence 
at  first  hand — not  to  be  qualified  for  arguing  the  Arian,  and 
the  Socinian,  and  the  Pelagian  controversies,  in  Greek ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  when  comparing  Scripture  with  Scrip- 
ture in  the  original,  how  satisfactory  to  observe  the  abund- 
ance of  that  light  which  falls  without  intervention  from  the 
ipsissima  verba  of  the  apostles  on  the  weightiest  truths  of 
revelation.  You  are  then  in  the  very  heart  and  substance 
of  all  that  is  most  useful  in  Scripture  criticism,  when  you 
make  a  distinct  study  or  exercise  of  any  of  the  great  con- 
troversies, according  to  the  learned  treatment  of  them. 
Take  the  divinity  of  Christ  for  an  example.  You  should  be 
masters  of  all  the  emendatory  criticism  which  relates  to  the 
integrity  of  the  various  passages  where  this  doctrine  is 
attested ;  and  you  should  be  masters  of  all  the  interpretative 
criticism  that  applies  to  the  sense  of  these  passages.  We 
VOL.  vii=^ — ^P 


338  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

shall  be  able,  I  trust,  to  present  you  with  various  specimens 
of  this  in  our  course,  when  discussing  some  of  the  chief 
articles  of  our  faith  ?  and  I  would  only  add,  that,  besides 
the  regular  controversies,  there  are  many  useful  and  agree- 
able walks  of  criticism  that  might  be  struck  out  by  your- 
selves, in  the  course  of  your  growing  familiarity  with  the 
original  languages  of  Scripture.  There  are  certain  words 
and  phrases,  both  of  capital  importance  and  of  frequent 
reiteration,  in  the  Bible,  which  might  well  be  fastened  on  as 
topics  of  separate  investigation.  There  is  still  the  light  of 
many  a  pleasing  confirmation  which  remains  to  be  elicited 
from  the  comparison  of  passages  which  you  can  easily 
bring  together  by  means  of  a  Greek  and  Hebrew  concord- 
ance. Had  I  time  for  it  I  should  feel  much  disposed  to 
prosecute  in  this  way  an  inquiry  into  the  varied  meanings 
of  such  words  as  maTLg,  and  ayiog,  and  %api?,  and  dLKaioavvr], 
with  all  its  co-relatives,  or  of  such  phrases  as  dticaioavvr)  rov 
Oeov,  (3aotXsia  rov  6eov,  diKaLcoOetg  etc  rov  TTiarecjg.  And  al- 
though it  be  an  undoubted  truth  that  Scripture  is  its  own 
best  interpreter,  yet  much,  if  not  of  essential,  at  least  of  con- 
firmatory evidence,  may  be  drawn  from  classical  authors  ; 
and  particularly,  in  giving  additional  proofs  for  the  sense  of 
particular  terms,  as  of  dinaioavvri,  whether  in  the  personal 
or  forensic  meaning  of  it,  and  of  mari^,  in  its  various  imports 
from  a  simple  credence  to  the  moral  quality  of  faithfulness. 
When  once  you  have  learned  the  use  of  Scripture  criticism 
as  a  general  instrument,  you  will  be  able  to  turn  it  to  many 
specific  investigations,  either  of  what  you  deem  to  be  most 
important  in  itself,  or  of  what  you  immediately  require  for 
the  solution  of  your  own  particular  difficulties.  I  feel  as  if 
I  cannot  adequately  explain  all  the  satisfaction  which  I  am 
sure  you  will  experience  in  such  exercises  of  professional 
literature — in  the  prosecution  of  which,  along  with  those 
daily  readings  of  the  original  Scriptures  which  I  would 
most  strenuously  recommend,  you  will  at  length  attain  to  all 
the  intimacy  of  a  pocket- companion  with  the  Greek  New 
Testament.  Oat  of  the  immense  accumulations  of  Scripture 
criticism,  you  will  be  able  to  distinguish  between  that  which 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  339 

is  of  doctrinal  importance,  and  that  which  is  not  so ;  and  at 
the  same  time  will  not  fail  to  remark  how  much  the  plain 
sense  of  the  Bible,  in  whole  hosts  of  unquestioned  and  un- 
questionable passages,  is  on  the  side  of  orthodoxy.  This 
brings  us  back  to  our  oft-repeated  principle,  that,  after  all, 
the  most  precious  articles  of  our  creed  do  not  require  the 
efforts  of  any  high  or  arduous  criticism  for  their  direct 
establishment ;  yet  how  infinitely  better  that  you  should 
see  this  for  yourselves  than  that  you  should  be  told  of  it  by 
others — that  you  should  meet  the  champions  of  heresy  on 
any  ground  which  they  might  fix  upon  for  their  arena;  and 
that,  firm  in  the  conscious  possession  of  the  requisite  learn- 
ing, you  should  be  able,  with  confident  minds  and  unabashed 
visages,  to  contend  intelligently,  as  well  as  earnestly,  for 
the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints. 

37.  And  this  brings  us  back  to  the  main  reason  why  a 
Scripture  criticism,  and  that  too  of  the  most  refined  and 
scholar-like  description,  is  indispensable  to  the  maintenance 
of  orthodoxy.  What  a  school-boy  in  the  languages  can 
translate,  might  require  a  savant  in  the  languages,  and  that 
of  the  very  highest  order,  to  defend;  and  the  Church 
militant  on  earth  is  wanting  in  her  full  equipment  if  she 
have  no  such  savant  within  her  borders — one  who  could 
travel  over  the  whole  compass,  both  of  Biblical  and  Grecian 
literature,  and  could  reinforce  his  argument  by  the  practice 
and  authority  of  cognate  languages.  We  believe  that  even 
in  his  hand  the  services  of  philology,  viewed  as  an  instru- 
ment of  discovery,  will  be  of  little  avail ;  but  as  an  instru- 
ment of  defense,  they  are  indispensable.  Here  we  see  at 
once  wherein  it  is  that  the  great  use  of  philology  in  Scrip- 
ture criticism,  and  wherein  it  is  that  her  comparative  use- 
lessness,  lies.  As  an  instrument  of  discovery,  it  has  been 
overrated,  because  only  so  in  things  that  are  minute.  As 
an  instrument  of  defense,  it  cannot  be  overrated,  because  so 
in  things  that  are  momentous.  This  is  the  great  instrument, 
in  fact,  not  by  which  orthodoxy  hath  gained  the  positions 
that  she  now  occupies,  but  by  which  she  is  enabled  to  de- 
fend them ;  and  when  assailed  either  by  infidelity  from 


340  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

without,  or  by  heresy  from  within,  they  are  our  philologists 
and  our  men  of  antique  lore  together,  who  lift  the  mightiest 
polemic  arm  in  the  battles  of  the  faith.  Philological  criti- 
cism has  her  amateurs  and  her  impassioned  followers  ;  and 
•we  know  how  mortifying  it  is  to  those  embarked  with  all 
their  taste  and  energy  on  some  favorite  pursuit,  when  told 
of  its  practical  insignificance.  But  if  philological  criticism 
do  lie  open  to  this  charge  on  the  one  ground,  there  is  full 
compensation  made  by  the  high  importance  conceded  to  her 
on  the  other  ground.  This  should  at  once  satisfy  the  claims 
of  the  philologists;  and  what  is  of  far  more  consequence, 
should  settle  the  minds  of  unlearned  Christians,  when  visited 
by  any  anxious  fears  about  the  competency  of  our  present 
version  for  making  them  wise  unto  salvation.  When  the 
pretensions  of  philology  as  an  instrument  of  discovery  are 
pushed  too  far,  it  does  have  the  effect  of  disquieting  and 
giving  painful  insecurity  to  an  unlettered  mind.  But  when, 
instead  of  this,  its  power  as  an  instrument  of  defense  is  held 
to  be  that  wherein  its  chief  glory  and  importance  lie,  this  is 
the  highest  homage  that  can  possibly  be  rendered  to  the 
sufficiency  and  fullness  of  that  Christian  knowledge  which 
lies  vrithin  reach  of  the  common  people.  There  is  a  false 
and  unfeeling  pedantry  which  rejoices  in  the  wanton  dis- 
turbance that  it  gives  to  minds  of  deepest  seriousness  ;  but 
I  bid  you  remark  how  far  more  beautiful  and  good  the 
exhibition  is,  when  the  illiterate  and  the  humble  are  assured, 
as  they  may  well  be,  that  all  which  is  important  in  the  sub- 
ject-matter of  Christianity  is  fully  in  their  possession ;  and 
when  men  of  science,  instead  of  wrapping  themselves  like 
Egyptian  priests  of  old  in  hieroglyphic  mystery,  count  it,  in 
this  instance  at  least,  their  higher  glory,  to  own  the  fellow- 
ship of  a  common  doctrine  with  the  multitude,  and  to  spread 
the  canopy  of  their  protection  over  the  faith  of  our  cottage 
patriarchs. 

38.  In  the  peaceful  and  ordinary  seasons  of  the  Church, 
their  services  may  not  be  needed ;  but  when  danger  threat- 
ens, or  an  attack  is  offered,  then  the  Church  does  with  her 
philologists  what  the  State  does  with  her  fleets  that  are  lying 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  341 

in  ordinary — -she  puts  them  into  commission,  and  to  them, 
far  more  than  to  any  bhnd  hereditary  veneration  on  the  part 
of  our  people,  does  she  owe  it,  that  both  the  Arian  and  the 
Socinian  heresies  have  been  kept  from  her  borders.  And 
here  I  am  reminded  of  one  of  the  noblest  passages  in  the 
whole  recorded  eloquence  of  Canning,  who,  in  his  speech 
to  the  corporation  of  Plymouth,  adverted  to  the  inaction  of 
the  navy  during  peace,  but  to  the  mighty  power  that  lay 
up  in  reserve  in  those  enormous  floating  masses  whose 
assemblage  at  that  port  forms  one  of  the  most  glorious  of 
our  national  spectacles.  "Our  present  repose,"  he  said, "is 
no  more  a  proof  of  our  inability  to  act,  than  the  state  of 
inertness  and  inactivity  in  which  I  have  seen  those  mighty 
masses  that  float  in  the  waters  above  your  town,  is  a  proof 
they  are  devoid  of  strength  and  incapable  of  being  fitted 
for  action.  You  well  know,  gentlemen,  how  soon  one  of 
those  stupendous  masses,  now  reposing  on  their  shadows  in 
perfect  stillness,  how  soon,  upon  any  call  of  patriotism  or 
necessity,  it  would  assume  the  likeness  of  an  animated  thing, 
instinct  with  life  and  motion;  how  soon  it  would  ruffle,  as 
it  were,  its  swelling  plumage,  how  quickly  it  would  put 
forth  all  its  beauty  and  its  bravery,  collect  its  scattered  ele- 
ments of  strength,  and  awaken  its  dormant  thunders.  Such 
as  is  one  of  these  magnificent  machines  when  springing 
from  inaction  into  a  display  of  its  might,  such  is  England 
itself,  while  apparently  passive  and  motionless,  she  silently 
concentrates  the  power  to  be  put  forth  on  an  adequate 
occasion."  And  such,  I  would  add,  are  those  endowed 
colleges,  whether  by  the  State  or  by  the  people,  which 
though  often  the  dormitories  of  literature,  are  yet,  if  but 
rightly  patronized  and  administered,  best  fitted  for  fostering 
into  maturity  and  strength  the  massive  learning  of  a  nation. 
In  such  institutes  as  these,  there  lies  up,  if  not  a  force  in 
action,  at  least  a  force  in  readiness.  This  is  the  age  of 
hostility  to  endowments;  but  just  because  the  alleged  wealth 
and  the  alleged  indolence  of  our  established  dignitaries  have 
been  looked  to  with  an  evil  eye.  Yet  why  not  the  wealth 
without  the  indolence;  and  then  it  will  be  found  that  to  the 


342  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

science  and  scholarship  of  universities,  the  theological  liter- 
ature of  our  land  will  stand  indebted  for  her  best  acquisi- 
tions. And  we  hold  it  a  refreshing  spectacle  at  any  time 
that  meager  Socinianism  pours  forth  a  new  supply  of  flip- 
pancies and  errors,  when  an  armed  champion  comes  forth 
in  full  equipment  from  some  high  and  lettered  retreat,  ready 
at  all  times  to  face  the  threatening  mischief,  and  by  the 
might  of  a  ponderous  erudition  to  overbear  it. 

39.  It  is  not  because  I  hold  Biblical  criticism  to  be  the 
first  accomplishment  of  a  clergyman,  that  I  am  thus  strenu- 
ous in  recommending  the  prosecution  of  it.  It  is  because, 
though  not  before  certain  other  qualifications  in  absolute 
and  superlative  importance,  I  hold  it  to  have  been  inade- 
quately cultivated  in  Scotland.  Speaking  relatively  to  the 
state  of  our  own  Church  and  our  own  land,  I  would  say  that 
it  has  been  unduly  neglected;  and  that  in  regard  to  it  there 
has  been  both  a  defect  of  authorship,  and  a  defect  of  general 
study  throughout  our  ecclesiastical  body ;  I  may  be  doing 
injustice  to  som.e  whose  names  have  at  present  escaped  me, 
but  I  certainly  at  the  moment  do  not  recollect,  save 
M*Knight  of  Edinburgh,  and  Campbell  of  Aberdeen,  any 
who  have  greatly  signalized  themselves  in  this  walk  of  pro- 
fessional literature.  We  abound  in  Christian  ministers,  who 
by  dint  of  Christian  worth  and  assiduous  labor,  have  oper- 
ated with  surpassing  effect  on  the  habits  and  character  of 
our  population  at  large.  But  I  must  be  forgiven  the  asser- 
tion, that  in  the  kind  of  lore  which  I  have  now  specified, 
we  have  been  outrivaled  by  the  divines  of  our  sister  Estab- 
lishment— that  in  the  works  of  Mill,  and  Hammond,  and 
Clarke,  and  Matthew  Poole,  there  is  a  massive  and  elaborate 
erudition  which  Scotland  has  not  reached,  which  Scotland 
has  scarcely  aspired  after. 

40.  But  there  is  now  the  dawn  of  a  brighter  day ;  and  it 
is  at  the  outset  of  your  education,  it  is  in  the  juvenile 
schools  through  which  you  pass,  previous  to  the  entrance 
on  your  academic  career — it  is  there  where  the  signs  of 
light  and  of  promise  are  most  discernible.  The  high  de- 
gree of  classical    proficiency  that   is   now  attainable  in 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  343 

schools,  must  have  a  controlling  effect  on  the  degree  of 
your  advancement  in  all  the  subsequent  stages  of  education. 
You  will,  in  virtue  of  your  higher  preliminary  scholarship, 
come  forth  of  our  Greek  and  Latin  classes  at  college  far 
more  expert  and  proficient  linguists  than  the  students  of  a 
former  generation.  And  when  you  do  transfer  your  atten- 
tion from  profane  to  sacred  literature — when  you  pass  from 
the  study  of  the  classics  to  the  study  of  the  original  Scrip- 
tures, and  to  the  perusal  of  those  critics,  and  fathers,  and 
theologians,  who  have  delivered  themselves  in  one  or  other 
of  the  dead  languages,  you  will  leave  far  behind  you  those 
of  us  whose  boyhood  has  been  cast  on  that  period  when 
classical  learning  in  Scotland  was  at  its  lowest  ebb.  There 
is  now  a  manifest  revival.  In  the  state  more  especially  of 
our  city  schools,  we  have  palpable  proof  of  it  at  our  own 
doors.  And  through  the  medium  of  like  seminaries,  now 
maturing  and  multiplying  all  over  the  land,  we  look  not 
merely  for  the  restoration  of  a  more  chaste  and  Attic  liter- 
ature, but  for  having  the  firm  staple,  the  weight  and  the 
texture,  of  the  good  olden  erudition  restored  to  us. 

41.  Ere  I,  for  the  present,  leave  this  subject,  there  is  one 
earnest  recommendation  that  I  should  like  to  leave  along 
with  it.  It  is  that  you  should  give  one,  I  should  prefer 
two,  hours  a  day  to  the  reading  of  one  or  other  of  the 
dead  languages.  The  original  Scriptures  will  supply  you 
with  the  matter  of  a  never-failing  exercise,  which  might 
be  still  more  added  to  by  the  perusals  of  the  Fathers  and 
the  older  theologians.  This  is  the  time  for  enlarging  your 
stock  of  vocables,  and  for  becoming  familiar  both  with  the 
general  structure  and  the  peculiar  idioms  of  other  tongues. 
I  am  aware  of  the  vast  superiority  which  a  knowledge  of 
things  has  over  the  knowledge  of  words ;  and  that  theirs 
is  indeed  a  glaring  inversion  who  estimate  the  vehicle 
more  highly  than  the  contents  of  the  vehicle.  But  by  the 
course  which  I  now  recommend,  you  just  put  yourself  into 
closer  contact  with  the  things — and  these  things  without 
contamination  or  without  change,  from  the  verbal  trans- 
formations which  they  have  been  made  to  undergo.     You 


344  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

are  enabled  to  lay  an  immediate  hand  on  the  matter  of  the 
ology — and  that  both  unimpaired  in  point  of  strength,  and 
unvitiated  in  point  of  quality,  by  its  passing  through  the 
medium  of  a  translation.  I  promise  you  some  of  your 
happiest,  your  most  enraptured  hours,  while  you  are  thus 
familiarizing  yourselves  with  the  lore  of  antiquity  in  the 
languages  of  antiquity.  And  I  know  that  if  all,  or  the 
greater  part  of  you,  would  follow  the  recommendation, 
there  must  be  a  kindred  few  to  whom  nature  has  given  a 
special  appetency,  and  so  impressed  a  special  designation, 
for  the  service,  who  will  go  greatly  beyond  it.  The  felt 
attractions  of  the  study  itself  will  come  in  place  of  my  en- 
treaties, and,  in  fact,  will  supersede  them.  All  the  genius 
that  is  appropriate  to  this  variety  of  our  professional  liter- 
ature will  develop  itself  by  the  perseverance  of  a  few 
months;  and  we  shall  behold  a  certain  number  of  you 
devoted  to  the  intense  and  enamored  prosecution  of  it.  I 
should  like  that  in  this  way  all  were  leavened  with  a  gen- 
eral taste  for  the  subject,  and  that  others  of  peculiar  mood, 
either  for  appreciating  its  niceties,  or  for  grappling  with 
the  work  of  its  more  arduous  researches,  its  more  difficult 
and  profound  speculations,  should  redeem  the  honors  of  our 
Church  by  their  high  reach  of  proficiency,  and  at  length 
by  their  consequent  authorship. 

42.  Our  chief  anxiety  in  propounding  these  views  on 
Scripture  criticism  is,  lest  it  should  be  thought  that  we 
mean  to  depreciate  the  importance  of  the  theme,  or  to  dis- 
courage the  study  of  it ;  whereas  it  is  our  earnest  and  in- 
tent object  to  explain  what  that  precisely  is  in  which  its 
chief  importance  lies  ;  and  not  only  to  recommend  as  desir- 
able a  general  scholarship  in  this  department  throughout 
the  ministers  of  our  Church,  but  to  urge  as  indispensable  a 
most  thoroughly  accomplished  and  transcendental  scholar- 
ship to  as  many  as  might  suffice  for  the  vindication  or 
defense  of  a  scriptural  faith  against  the  inroads  of  heresy 
and  error.  Such  a  scholarship  is  in  fact  one  of  the  neces- 
saries of  the  Church  militant,  as  well  as  fitted  to  minister  a 
supreme  luxury  and  enjoyment  to  those,  its  successful  adepts 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  345 

and  cultivators,  who  have  scaled  its  most  difficult  and  la- 
borious ascents,  and  now  expatiate  in  its  highest  walks. 
We  can  well  imagine  and  acknowledge  the  satisfaction  felt 
by  them  in  every  footstep  of  their  progress — their  delight 
in  the  perception  of  those  hidden  harmonies  which  are  out 
of  sight  to  all  who  are  not  ver&ant  in  the  original  languages 
of  Scripture — and  more  especially  when  they  succeed  in 
rescuing  from  the  hands  of  the  enemy  some  passage  or 
testimony  which  had  been  appropriated  on  the  side  of  false 
doctrine,  but  is  now  demonstrated,  and  that  with  equal  or 
superior  erudition,  to  be  a  tributary  and  a  support  in  favor 
of  what  had  been  before  the  general  understanding  among 
the  orthodox  and  the  pious,  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 
All  this  can  most  cheerfully  be  admitted  ;  and  yet  so  far 
from  operating  to  the  prejudice  or  exclusion,  it  is  all  cor- 
roborative of  the  glorious  affirmation — that  without  the 
Scripture  criticism  of  the  learned,  and  through  the  medium 
of  our  existing  translations  alone,  the  general  multitude  of 
the  faithful  have  ready  and  abundant  access  to  the  whole 
of  that  truth  which  is  unto  salvation ;  and  that  whatever  of 
instruction  there  is  in  the  Bible  which  bears  fruit  unto  the 
holiness  that  in  the  end  has  everlasting  life,  is  within  the 
reach  of  all. 

43.  Now  what  is  true  of  the  people,  holds  alike  true  of 
students  in  Divinity.  If  the  former,  because  all  the  weighty 
truths  of  religion  are  within  their  reach,  can,  even  without 
learning,  appropriate  and  apply  them  to  the  effect  of  their 
becoming  good  Christians — the  latter  for  the  same  reason, 
or  just  because  the  weightiest  truths  of  religion  are  also 
within  their  reach,  can,  without  being  accomplished  Scrip- 
ture critics,  arrange  and  systematize  them  to  the  effect  of 
their  becoming  able  and  scientific  theologians.  It  is  true 
that  each  of  these  might  be  helpless,  as  any  of  the  common 
people,  when  the  argument  is  carried  beyond  the  confines 
of  the  existing  translation,  and  there  arises  a  call  for  the 
Church  to  vindicate  the  cause  of  orthodoxy  on  the  ground 
of  the  original  languages.  But  then  it  is  that  our  textua- 
ries  and  philologists  come  to  his  aid ;  and  though  belong* 


846  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ing  to  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  class  of  laborers,  or  at 
least  with  no  claim  to  a  place  of  eminence  among  them,  he 
might  nevertheless,  in  the  proper  work  and  vocation  of 
theology,  make  a  better  use  than  either  of  the  results  which 
they  have  put  into  his  hands.  It  is  necessary  for  the  Church 
that  she  should  have  men  within  her  borders  who,  sever- 
ally and  distinctly,  are  competent  to  the  fulfillment  of  both 
services;  and,  on  the  principle  of  the  division  of  employ- 
ment, it  will,  generally  speaking,  be  all  the  belter  executed, 
if  done  by  men  laboring  in  their  respective  departments 
apart  from  each  other.  Not  but  that  Scripture  criticism 
should  form  a  branch  of  their  general  education  to  all  our 
ecclesiastics — when  nature,  who  makes  the  wisest  distribu- 
tion of  her  gifts,  or  rather,  when  the  Spirit  who  divideth  to 
every  man  severally  as  He  will,  will  in  the  course  of  their 
preparation  for  the  ministry,  call  forth  the  special  aptitudes 
of  some,  so  as  that  they  shall  first  evince  an  intense  and 
devoted  partiality,  and  afterwards  attain  to  a  transcend- 
ental eminence  in  this  walk  of  professional  literature.  ^  It  is 
thus  that,  throughout  the  clerical  order,  the  many  should 
form  a  reading  and  intelligent  public,  whilst  the  few  will 
suffice  either  for  discoverers  or  champions  of  the  truth  on 
the  high  field  of  authorship.  In  other  words,  there  are  dif- 
ferent functions  in  the  Church,  and  these  are  usually  best 
performed  by  different  functionaries.  It  is  the  province  of 
one  class  to  settle  aright  the  readings  and  the  renderings  of 
Scripture  ;  it  is  the  province  of  another  class,  in  the  exer- 
cise of  their  distinctive  faculty,  to  act  as  wise  master- 
builders  on  the  foundation  which  has  thus  been  laid — 
whether  as  doctrinal  theologians  or  as  practical  theologians, 
looking  at  one  time  to  the  objective  truths  of  Scripture, 
and  at  another  to  the  adaptation  of  these  truths  to  man's 
subjective  nature.  In  the  days  of  the  Church's  spiritual 
prosperity,  both  her  critics  and  her  theologians  will  work 
rightly  and  harmoniously  into  each  other's  hands.  But  she 
has  her  days,  too,  of  darkness  and  derangement,  when  it 
will  be  found,  not  only  that  a  good  theologian  may  be  an 
indifferent  critic,  but  that  a  most  erudite  though  a  sadly 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  347 

perverse  and  sophistical  critic  might,  like  the  Neologists 
of  Germany,  be  a  wretchedly  bad  theologian. 

44.  But  while  a  perverse,  though  highly  elaborate  and 
erudite  Scripture  criticism  has  given  birth  or  rather  coun- 
tenance to  Neology,  and  by  the  weight  of  authority  has 
made  it  formidable — yet  it  is  Scripture  criticism,  after  all, 
and  on  the  strength  of  a  principle  w^hich,  when  once  an- 
nounced, is  exceedingly  obvious,  that  is  the  proper,  the 
rightful,  and  withal  the  most  effectual  instrument  for  the 
overthrow  of  its  pretensions  audits  power.  The  principle 
is  analogous  to,  or,  perhaps  it  may  be  said,  identical  with, 
that  which  is  commonly  given  in  the  form  that  an  author 
is  his  own  best  interpreter  ;  or,  tantamount  to  this,  that  the 
meaning  of  a  term  is  determined  by  the  usages  of  speech ; 
and  the  use  which  is  actually  made  of  it  is  gathered  from 
its  obvious  connection  with  the  words  or  subject-matter  of 
the  passage  and  place  where  it  actually  stands.  To  express 
it  otherwise,  the  primary  evidence  for  a  meaning  lies  not  in 
the  lexicon  where  it  is  merely  registered,  but  in  the  context 
where  the  word  in  question  is  imbedded,  and  whence  its 
meaning  in  general  shines  palpably  forth,  from  the  relation 
in  which  it  obviously  stands  to  the  words  and  the  clauses 
that  lie  around  it.  We  read  in  the  lexicon  that  one  of  the 
senses  of  the  Greek  em  is  the  English  upon,  when  the  pre- 
position is  placed  before  the  accusative  case.  Thus  tells 
the  lexicon  ;  but  who  told  the  lexicographer  ?  He  gener- 
ally gives  his  authorities ;  and  when  it  is  a  Scripture  lexi- 
con, these  are  neither  more  nor  less  than  Bible  sentences 
or  Bible  texts.  He  does  not  say  in  behalf  of  the  information 
he  is  giving,  that  he  had  it  from  another  lexicographer. 
These  sentences  or  texts  are  in  truth  his  informers,  and 
they  are  ours  also.  He  counts  it  enough  that  he  makes 
simple  exhibition  of  these.  It  is  to  them  that  he  appeals,  and 
the  appeal  is  quite  a  sufficient  one.  Accordingly,  one  of 
his  references  for  the  signification  of  ettl  being  upon,  where 
it  governs  the  dative,  is  to  Mark  vi.  39,  and  it  speaks  for 
itself.  There  we  read  that  He  commanded  all  to  sit  down 
by  companies  upon  the  green  grass,  (eiri  rio  ^/twpw  xoprcit.) 


348  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


No  doubt  this  said  preposition  is  found  to  signify  upon, 
when  it  governs  the  accusative  case.  But  where  is  it  that 
we  so  find  ?  Just  as  in  the  instance  before  us  in  the  places 
where  they  occur,  and  in  which  places,  too,  the  instances 
speak  as  decisively  for  themselves.  In  regard  to  the  exam- 
ple on  hand,  though  it  had  stood  alone,  and  not  another 
such  had  occurred  within  the  whole  compass  of  Grecian 
literature — although  it  had  been  the  solitary  case  among 
ten  thousand  others,  in  all  of  which  e-hl,  signifying  upon, 
invariably  governed  the  accusative — yet  here  in  the  light 
of  its  own  peculiar  or  contextual,  or  it  may  be  termed  local 
evidence,  we  should,  in  the  face  of  this  unanimous  array, 
have  stood  up  for  the  signification  upon  in  the  case  before 
us.  The  verse  has  been  rightly  translated :  "  He  com- 
manded them  to  make  all  sit  down  by  companies  upon  the 
green  grass."  It  surely  could  not  mean  that  they  were  to 
sit  beside  the  grass  :  as  little  could  it  mean  beyond  the  grass;" 
for  where,  in  the  name  of  wonder,  should  they  be  made  to 
sit  down  but  just  upon  the  grass  ? — a  plain  enough  demon- 
stration, then  ;  so  plain  as  to  make  the  quotation  of  it  ludi- 
crous, that  the  evidence  of  the  context  for  the  text,  or  of 
the  sentence  for  the  single  word,  is  really  evidence  at  first 
hand ;  in  other  words,  that  the  lexicon  is  not  the  fountain- 
head  of  our  light  for  the  meaning  of  words  or  phrases,  but 
that  it  is  only  the  reflector  of  a  light  which  radiates  from 
the  author ;  and  that  it  is  to  his  pages,  and  more  especially 
to  the  place  which  is  under  discussion,  where  we  should 
look  for  the  real  fountainhead. 

45.  Now  on  the  strength  of  this  consideration,  simple 
and  even  puerile  though  it  may  appear,  we  hold  that  Neo- 
logy might  be  cut  up  by  the  roots.  The  great  artifice  of 
this  system,  and  an  artifice  often  resorted  to  by  the  dealers 
in  heresy  in  a  smaller  way,  is  to  find  out  an  unwonted  sig- 
nification for  the  words,  and  so  to  reverse  the  meaning  of 
it  in  those  passages  which  had  heretofore  been  regarded 
as  decisive  of  the  question,  and  on  the  side  of  orthodoxy. 
And  there  might  be  no  ground  for  disputing  the  Neological 
signification  in  the  place  where  it  has  been  discovered,  and 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  349 

to  which  the  Neologists  make  their  appeal,  and  found  out 
by  them  on  some  bypath  of  erudition,  which  hitherto  none 
had  explored  but  themselves.  The  sense  which  they  con- 
tend for  might  be  the  undoubted  sense  of  the  word  in  the 
passage  to  which  they  refer ;  and  evinced  to  be  so  by  its 
own  contextual  light,  or  what  we  have  termed  the  local 
and  peculiar  evidence  which  shines  on  the  particular  place 
that  has  now  been  opened  up  for  the  first  time  to  the  ob- 
servation of  philologists  and  critics.  For  such  is  the  power 
of  this  local  and  contextual,  that  it  might  suffice  to  estab- 
lish a  meaning  for  a  word  which  shall  be  altogether  singu- 
lar— though  in  the  face  of  ten  thousand  contrary  instances, 
each  determined  by  a  contextual  light  of  its  own.  Neolo- 
gists are  perfectly  right  in  deferring  to  the  contextual 
light — we  ourselves  defer  to  it  along  with  them — which 
shines  upon  their  newly  discovered  passage,  and  which 
might  fully  authorize  a  quite  unexampled  meaning  for  the 
word  in  question.  But  they  are  not  right — they  are  most 
inconsistently  and  glaringly  in  the  wrong,  when,  with  this 
new  meaning  of  theirs,  they  would  lay  an  extinguisher  on 
the  old  and  established  meaning  of  the  word,  and  so  put 
out  therew^ith  the  contextual  light  of  the  ten  thousand  pas- 
sages which  can  be  quoted  in  vindication  of  it.  By  so 
doing,  they  violate  all  the  laws  of  interpretative  probability 
— not  only  trampling  on  the  usus  loquendi  of  every  sepa- 
rate writer,  but  casting  obscuration  on  the  local  evidence 
or  contextual  light  of  every  separate  sentence  which  has 
been  penned  by  him.  They  bear  ample  respect  to  the  con- 
textual evidence  in  their  own  solitary  example,  when,  ,in 
opposition  to  the  ten  thousand  examples  of  a  different  or 
contrary  meaning,  they  insist  on  the  altogether  singular 
meaning  of  the  word  at  issue  in  the  new  place  which  they 
have  lighted  on.  And  in  this  we  have  no  quarrel  with 
them.  But  it  is  too  much  that  by  means  of  this  single  pre- 
cedent of  theirs,  they  should  offer  to  annihilate  the  whole 
army  of  precedents  which  can  be  appealed  to  on  the  side 
of  evangelism — with  their  one  man  putting  a  thousand  to 
flight,  and  refusing  to  each  the  benefit  of  that  contextual 


350  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

light  whereof  in  their  own  solitary  instance  they  have  so 
amply  availed  themselves. 

46.  This  consideration  suggests  what  we  hold  to  be  still 
a  desideratum  in  sacred  literature,  and  which  would  prove, 
we  conceive,  to  be  of  mighty  service  in  the  business  of 
Scripture  criticism,  and  for  the  defense  of  orthodoxy.  A 
general  concordance  of  all  Greek  authors  for  all  the  words, 
even  for  all  the  principal  words  used  by  them,  were  a  task 
far  too  ponderous  for  execution  ;  but  a  Greek  concordance 
for  all  the  principal  words  on  the  meaning  of  which  there 
hinges  any  important  doctrine  in  theology — for  all  the  voces 
signatce — these  words  amounting  it  may  be  to  twelve  or 
twenty  or  thirty,  by  the  determination  of  which  all  the  main 
controversies  between  the  orthodox  and  the  heretics  would 
be  determined — such  a  concordance,  limited  to  so  small  a 
number  of  terms  and  phrases,  though  not  limited  to  a  single 
book,  but  embracing  all  the  passages  where  they  occur  in 
all  the  books  of  the  language  which  have  come  down  to  us 
from  ancient  times — a  compilation  of  this  sort,  though 
grounded  on  a  universal  survey  of  Grecian  literature,  would 
not  be  of  unmanageable  extent,  and  would  prove  an  instru- 
ment of  signal  service  in  the  battles  of  the  faith.  We  should 
soon  observe  how  little  the  rare  and  otherwise  unexampled 
meaning  of  a  word  in  one  or  a  very  few  places  was  entitled 
to  give  the  law,  so  as  to  fix  the  meaning  of  that  word  in  all 
other  places;  and  also  how  much  that  meaning,  in  every 
particular  instance,  was  determined,  not  by  the  voice  of  its 
distant  fellows,  but  by  a  light  which  shone  immediately 
around  it  in  its  own  neighborhood,  and  with  an  intensity 
proportioned  to  the  nearness,  so  as  to  bear  with  the  greatest 
force  of  concentration  on  the  sentence  where  it  lay.  In  far 
the  greatest  number  of  instances  it  would  be  found  that  each 
text  was  settled  by  its  own  context,  and  stood  there  the  un- 
doubted bearer  of  a  sense  which  could  not  be  shaken  by  all 
the  authorities  gleaned  by  the  hand  of  a  far  traveled 
scholarship,  from  the  remote  and  seldom  or  never  till  now 
explored  regions  of  our  ancient  and  recondite  authorship. 
It  would  soon  become  obvious,  and  to  the  utter  discomfiture 


SCRIPTURE  CRITICISM.  351 

of  Neology,  that,  in  point  of  real  effect,  its  formidable  learn- 
ing was  indeed  of  very  feeble  achievement,  and  all  the  more 
feeble  in  proportion  to  its  formidableness  ;  for,  after  all,  the 
further  out  of  sight,  or  the  further  removed  from  the  ken  of 
ordinary  readers,  the  further  also  from  the  matter  on  hand ; 
or,  in  other  words,  the  further  out  of  reach,  the  further  also 
out  of  a  true  reckoning  on  the  question  at  issue.  It  were 
indeed  a  noble,  we  believe  it  to  be  a  fully  practicable 
triumph,  thus  to  unmask  the  pomp  of  Neological  learning, 
and  make  it  palpable  to  all,  how  hollow  its  pretensions  were 
to  aught  like  a  critical  groundwork  for  its  daring  liberties 
with  the  word  of  God;  and  all  the  more  gratifying,  that  the 
monument  so  raised  would  prove  a  munition  or  bulwark  of 
defense  for  the  faith  and  piety  of  unlettered  Christians. 

47.  And  the  principle  of  such  a  work  as  we  have  now 
ventured  to  recommend,  we  hold  to  be  beneficial  for  other 
purposes  than  those  of  controversy ;  that  is,  not  for  the 
vindication  only,  but  for  the  direct  establishment  of  the 
orthodox  creed.  We  conceive  it  to  have  been  too  much 
the  tendency  to  rest  the  proof  of  its  articles  on  the  meaning 
of  words  looked  to  singly — thus  giving  rise  to  a  contest 
between  the  opposite  meanings  of  the  same  word,  which 
might  often  be  easily  gathered  from  the  diflferent  places  in 
which  it  stands.  We  think  it  has  been  too  much  the  habit 
to  lay  the  stress  more  upon  separate  words  than  upon  sen- 
tences or  passages,  lighted  up  by  the  contextual  evidence 
which  gives  an  obviousness  to  the  sense,  whether  in  the 
original  or  in  the  ordinary  translations ;  and  it  is  this,  we 
conceive,  which  accounts  for  the  so  often  better  understand- 
ing of  theology  on  the  part  of  a  homely  but  earnest  reader, 
than  on  the  part  of  the  learned  controversialist.  The  mists 
which  have  been  raised  in  philological  warfare,  when 
authorities  are  parried  against  authorities  on  the  significa- 
tion of  words  taken  singly,  might  often  be  effectually  dissi- 
pated, would  combatants  but  agree  to  look  with  fairness  at 
the  meanings  which  they  bear  in  the  passages  where  they 
actually  occur.  The  precious  doctrine  of  the  atonement, 
which  has  been  so  mystified  in  what  might  be  termed  the 


352  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

single-handed  logomachy  of  those  who  argue  and  counter- 
argue  on  the  signification  of  individual  words,  stands  forth 
clear  as  sunshine  to  the  apprehensions  of  those  who  resign 
their  understandings  to  the  plain  statements  given  forth  in 
the  clauses  or  sentences  of  a  very  plain  narrative,  a  very 
plain  description.  Let  the  orthodox  and  the  Socinian  con- 
trovert the  interpretations  of  each  other  as  they  may,  in  re- 
gard to  the  meaning  of  such  words,  taken  singly,  as  KaraX- 
Aayr],  and  Xvrpov^  and  iXaoTripiov ,  and  Qvaia^  I  have  no  doubt 
that  each  of  the  parties  will  readily  find  their  own  meanings 
in  the  passages  and  contexts  which  are  selected  respectively 
by  themselves.  But  the  context  with  me  is  all  in  all  for 
fixing  down  the  signification  that  we  are  in  quest  of;  and 
therefore  dropping  this  controversy  as  irrelevant,  though 
garnished  all  over  on  both  sides  of  it  with  many  learned 
quotations,  I  take  in  those  contexts  whence  a  broad  and 
resistless  light  is  made  to  fall  on  the  understanding  of  all — 
w^hether  learned  or  unlearned.  And  whether  I  read  in  the 
Old  Testament  of  Aaron  laying  both  his  hands  upon  the 
head  of  the  animal,  and  confessing  over  him  all  the  iniqui- 
ties of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  putting  them  upon  the 
animal's  head,  which  was  thus  made  to  bear  their  iniquities ; 
or  read  in  the  New  Testament  that  Christ  was  the  substan- 
tial reality  and  antitype  to  all  the  rites  of  the  Mosaic  Dispen- 
sation— then  I  cannot  but  understand,  in  the  language  of 
Peter  the  apostle,  that  He  bare  our  sins  in  His  body  on  the 
tree ;  and  in  that  of  Isaiah  the  Prophet,  that  God  laid  upon 
Him  the  iniquities  of  us  all — an  evidence  this  which  could 
be  multiplied  an  hundred-fold  throughout  whole  books  and 
chapters  of  the  Bible. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ON  SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY. 

1.  There  is  a  strong  practical  analogy  between  a  system 
in  theology  and  a  system  in  general  science,  although  it  be 
not  so  perfect  and  entire  throughout  but  that  there  are  also 
important  differences  between  them.  One  individual  phe- 
nomenon in  nature  could  not  assure  us  of  a  law  or  principle 
in  nature,  or  of  any  truth  of  such  generality  and  importance 
as  should  entitle  it  to  a  place  among  the  articles  of  a  system 
in  any  of  the  natural  sciences.  We  must  compare  and  ex- 
amine a  number  of  phenomena,  and  note  the  resemblances 
or  relations  between  them,  ere  we  can  attain  to  a  law  of 
nature  which  is  grounded  on  the  basis  of  an  extensiv^e  in- 
duction, and  is  of  itself  the  summary  expression  of  a  general 
fact.  But  an  individual  saying  of  Scripture  may  at  once, 
and  by  itself,  assure  us  of  a  great  and  dominant  principle  in 
theology,  and  one  of  such  great  and  pervading  importance, 
as  might  well  entitle  it  to  the  highest  place  and  pre-eminence 
among  the  generalities  of  a  theological  system.  Still,  how- 
ever, and  notwithstanding  the  exception  of  this  dissimilarity, 
there  is  room  and  even  necessity  for  the  same  sort  of  induc- 
tion among  the  individual  sayings  of  Scripture,  which  is 
required  for  the  purposes  of  science  among  the  individual 
phenomena  of  nature,  and  this  not  so  much  for  adding  to 
the  number  of  proof-passages  in  behalf  of  any  doctrine,  as 
to  make  sure  of  a  sustained  and  unexcepted  harmony  be- 
tween them,  or  of  there  being  no  such  contradiction  as 
m.ight  prove  fatal  not  only  to  the  doctrine  in  question,  but 
even  to  the  general  truth  of  revelation.  There  still  remains 
then  a  sufficient  and  most  instructive  analogy  between  the 
work  of  the  observer  in  science  and  that  of  the  Scripture 
critic  in  theology,  on  the  one  hand  ;  and  on  the  other,  be- 
tween the  philosopher  in  science  and  the  systematizer  in 


354  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

theology ;  such  an  analogy  in  fact  as  might  guide  to  the 
explanation  and  vindication  of  the  uses  of  both. 

2.  It  is  true  that  when  Scripture  criticism  is  carried  to 
its  full  extent,  the  work  of  systematizing  has  already  begun, 
for  one  of  its  objects,  as  already  explained,  is  to  ascertain 
the  truth  of  a  doctrine.  But  we  might  conceive  one  to  go 
forth  on  Scripture  without  one  notion  of  systematic  theology 
in  his  head,  yet  with  the  highest  degree  of  that  talent  and 
preparation  which  might  enable  him  to  estimate  the  import 
of  words  and  phrases.  We  might  suppose  him  incapable 
of  deriving  any  guidance  to  the  meaning  of  a  passage  from 
the  analogy  of  the  faith ;  and  that  he  therefore  assigns  its 
meaning  to  each  passage  on  the  pure  principles  of  philology 
alone.  He  is  like  an  observer  going  forth,  innocent  of  all 
theory,  on  the  field  of  nature.  The  scriptural  observer  can 
render  accurately  each  separate  word  and  sentence — ^just  as 
the  natural  observer  can  describe  accurately  each  individual 
object  that  lies  within  the  domain  over  which  he  expatiates. 
The  one,  let  us  say,  with  his  lexicon,  and  with  all  those 
lights  which  long  practice  and  recollection  in  this  walk  of 
investigation  can  supply  ;  the  other,  perhaps,  with  his  mi- 
croscope, or  his  balance,  or  the  busy  use  of  his  now  well- 
exercised  senses,  and  the  benefit  of  all  those  habits  which 
belong  to  him  either  as  a  diligent  collector  of  individual 
facts,  or  as  a  scrupulously  accurate  describer  of  the  prop- 
erties of  individual  objects.  The  mere  linguist  is  to  Scrip- 
ture what  the  mere  observer  is  to  science.  The  office  of 
the  one  is  to  expound  accurately  all  the  separate  sayings 
in  the  volume  of  God's  word.  The  office  of  the  other  is  to 
expound  accurately  all  the  separate  things  in  the  volume 
of  God's  work,  whether  you  view  them  as  objects,  which  is 
the  light  in  which  you  regard  them  when  you  study  con- 
teQiporaneous  nature,  or  view  them  as  events,  which  is  the 
light  in  which  you  regard  them  when  you  study  successive 
nature.  It  belongs  to  neither  of  them,  in  their  respective 
characters,  to  construct  a  science,  whether  it  be  that  of  the- 
ology or  any  of  those  numerous  sciences  which  belong  to 
philosophy ;  but  it  is  the  high  function  of  both  to  furnish 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  355 

each  science — Divine  or  human — with  all  its  materials. 
Without  such  laborers,  we  may  have  speculations  without 
facts — airy,  unsupported  theories  which  have  no  experi- 
mental basis  to  rest  upon — sublime  and  specious  generali- 
zations which,  not  sustained  in  the  one  case  on  the  founda- 
tion of  the  accurately  observed  word,  and  not  sustained  in 
the  other  on  the  foundation  of  the  accurately  observed 
woiks,  are  alike  unworthy  of  a  place  in  the  temple  of  sci- 
ence or  in  the  temple  of  sacredness.  We  are  aware  of  a 
certain  flippant  and  fashionable  contempt  for  the  drudgery 
more  especially  of  the  verbal  laborers — of  those  who  either 
collect  the  readings  and  the  renderings  of  others,  or  who 
can  swell  still  farther  the  already  enormous  masses  of  bibli- 
cal learning,  by  criticisms  and  conjectural  emendations  of 
their  own.  But  this  is  truly  not  the  age  for  depreciating 
such  labors — the  age  of  facts  and  findings  in  every  depart- 
ment of  investigation.  It  is  most  unphilosophical  levity  thus 
to  cast  a  slight  or  a  stigma  on  these  pioneers  of  our  pro- 
fession. They  furnish  our  science  with  its  primary  ele- 
ments, or  with  what  may  be  termed  its  raw  material.  The 
labors  of  the  men  of  natural  observation  are  not  more  essen- 
tial to  a  sound  philosophy,  than  the  labors,  the  operose,  the 
painstaking  labors  of  those  men  of  scriptural  observation 
are  to  the  defense  and  establishment  of  a  sound  faith. 

3.  Conceive,  then,  that  all  the  facts  which  can  be  gath- 
ered from  the  field  of  visible  nature  have  been  carefully  as- 
certained, so  that  we  are  made  accurately  to  know  all  the 
individual  objects  which  there  exist,  and  the  individual 
events  which  may  have  there  occurred — we  may  not  have 
proceeded  beyond  the  first  footstep  in  the  proper  philoso- 
phy of  nature.  In  the  forming  of  a  philosophy,  we  group 
together  all  the  facts  which  have  a  common  resemblance ; 
and  it  is  just  by  the  expression  of  this  resemblance  that  we 
announce  a  general  law.  The  discovery  of  such  a  law  is 
but  the  discovery  of  such  a  resemblance,  and  is  the  more 
general,  according  to  the  number  of  individual  facts  by 
which  the  resemblance  is  possessed.  One  observer  might 
measure  the  rate  of  a  stone's  descent  at  the  surface  of  the 


356-  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

earth,  and  another  observer  might  measure  the  rate  of  the 
moon's  deflection  toward  the  earth ;  but  it  is  the  part  of 
the  philosopher  to  notice  the  sameness  or  similarity  of  these 
two  facts.  He  mentally  places  them  together,  so  as  that 
they  shall  come  at  once  into  view  ;  and  when  so  placed  to- 
gether he  recognizes  a  likeness  between  them.  It  is  this 
recognition  of  likenesses  in  different  events,  which  essen- 
tially constitutes  the  art  of  philosophizing.  It  is  the  discov- 
ery of  a  universal  likeness,  as  far  as  observation  has  yet 
gone,  among  all  the  instances  of  bodies  approaching  each 
other  in  free  space,  that  led  to,  or  rather  that  constituted, 
the  discovery  of  the  universal  law  of  gravitation.  A  law 
of  nature,  as  I  have  heard  well  stated  from  his  university 
chair,  more  than  forty  years  ago,  by  Professor  Robison  of 
Edinburgh,  is  but  the  expression  of  a  general  fact  grounded 
on  the  observation  of  particulars,  and  affirming  within  the 
Hmits  of  a  brief  and  compendious  utterance  a  something 
that  was  common  to  them  all.  There  may  have  been  thou- 
sands of  such  observations  in  distant  parts  of  the  world, 
and  at  different  periods  of  time ;  but  till  the  pervading  sim- 
ilarity was  discovered,  they  formed  a  loose  aggregate  of 
individuals,  amounting  in  multitude  to  a  host  that  no  man 
could  number.  To  notice  this  similarity  and  to  announce 
it,  was  to  effect  something  more  than  a  useful  abbreviation 
in  language.  It  was  the  achievement  of  a  substantial  dis- 
covery on  the  outer  field  of  contemplation.  It  was  the  rev- 
elation of  nature's  most  magnificent  harmony. 

4.  In  like  manner  may  it  be  conceived  of  all  the  individ- 
ual sayings  which  lie  scattered  up  and  down  over  the  face 
of  God's  word,  that  the  meaning  of  each  has  been  clearly 
and  accurately  rendered  :  and  that  by  the  labors  of  the 
Biblical  critic,  who  is  just  the  observer  of  Scripture,  there 
may  have  been  the  same  information  afforded  of  every  sin- 
gle sentence  in  the  written  record,  that  we  have  supposed 
the  observer  of  nature  to  furnish  of  all  the  separate  facts 
and  observations  in  nature.  There  still  remains  the  same 
work  of  generalization  to  be  done  with  the  individuals  of 
the  one  tablet,  as  with  those  of  the  other.     They  are  group- 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  357 

ed  together  according  to  their  resemblances  ;  and  as  it  was 
from  something  common  to  each  in  the  former  case,  that  a 
general  law  in  science  was  edaced  and  established,  so  from 
something  common  to  each  in  the  latter  case,  there  is  educed 
a  general  truth  or  doctrine  in  theology.  When  a  hundred 
facts  exhibit  one  and  the  same  phenomenon,  the  expression 
of  this  phenomenon  in  its  generality  ib  the  expression  of  a 
principle  in  philosophy — when  a  hundr^-"  "erses  speak  one 
and  the  same  truth,  this  truth,  sustained  on  the  basis  of  a 
multiple  testimony,  may,  by  means  of  one  brief  and  compre- 
hensive affirmation,  become  the  article  of  a  creed.  The 
Scripture  critic  is  in  Christianity  what  the  experimentalist 
or  the  observer  is  in  science  ;  and  the  systematic  theologian 
is  in  Christianity  what  the  philosopher  is  in  science.  Un- 
less we  have  facts  we  can  have  no  sound  philosophy ;  and 
therefore  it  is  that  we  estimate  so  highly  the  woTth  and 
importance  of  Scripture  criticism.  Unless  these  facts  be 
classified  according  to  their  resemblances  or  common  qual- 
ities, we  can  have  no  philosophy  at  all ;  and  therefore  it  is 
that  we  estimate  so  highly  the  worth  and  importance  of 
systematic  theology.  The  latter  without  the  former  would 
be  in  Christianity  what  in  science  would  be  philosophy 
without  facts.  But  again,  the  former  without  the  latter 
would  be  to  have  facts  without  a  philosophy. 

5.  There  are  first,  then,  the  individual  sayings  of  Scrip- 
ture, which,  like  the  individual  phenomena  of  nature,  may 
be  regarded  as  the  facts  of  our  science.  There  is,  secondly, 
the  comparison  and  classification  of  these  sayings,  which, 
just  as  a  natural  philosophy  is  grounded  on  the  resem- 
blances of  individuals,  gives  rise  to  a  systematic  Divinity, 
whose  office  it  is  to  expound  and  establish  the  principles  of 
our  science.  To  ascertain  accurately  what  the  sayings 
are.  you  must  employ  as  your  instruments  of  observation 
the  grammar,  and  the  lexicon,  and  the  polyglot ;  and  to 
operate  with  these  on  the  original  languages  of  the  Bible  is 
the  part  of  Scripture  criticism — as  indispensable  to  the  sci- 
ence as  the  foundation  is  to  a  superstructure.  Again,  to 
group  and  classify  the  sayings  by  the  similarities  which  are 


358  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

between  them  by  means  of  some  common  and  pervading 
truth,  which  may  appear  in  hundreds  of  scattered  verses  or 
passages — to  frame  one  article  or  one  summary  expression 
which  shall  be  comprehensive  of  them  all — to  look  at  the 
sentences  of  the  Bible,  not  according  to  their  individuality, 
but  to  look  at  them  according  to  their  relations  or  their  re- 
semblances ; — this  is  the  part  of  systematic  theology ;  and 
it,  on  the  other  h:^^^-  is  as  indispensable  to  the  science  as  a 
superstructure  is  to  a  foundation.  Theology  without  Scrip- 
ture criticism  is  just  as  airy  and  unsupported  a  nothing,  as 
were  a  philosophy  without  facts ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
without  a  systematic  Divinity,  it  is  just  as  confused  and 
chaotic  a  jumble  as  were  an  undigested  medley  of  facts 
without  a  philosophy.  Scripture  criticism  and  systematic 
theology  are  the  integral,  the  essentially  component  parts 
of  one  and  the  same  science.  Without  the  first,  it  were  a 
baseless,  unsupported  fabric.  Without  the  second,  it  were 
an  inextricable  labyrinth. 

6.  But  let  it  not  be  imagined  that  the  work  of  systemat- 
izing is  confined  to  scholars  and  savans,  whether  in  science 
or  in  theology.  Even  a  common  reader  of  the  Bible,  if  he 
but  read  it  with  discernment,  proceeds  a  certain  way  in 
systematizing  it.  He  can  not  do  otherwise,  without  laying 
a  violent  arrest  on  the  generalizing  tendencies  of  his  nature. 
In  comparing  Scripture  with  Scripture,  he  recognizes  a 
harmony  among  many  different  passages  ;  and  it  is  the  pres- 
ence of  one  and  the  same  truth  in  each  which  constitutes 
the  harmony.  Let  him  look,  however  correctly,  to  each 
passage  in  its  separate  individuality  alone,  and  he  overlooks 
that  which  stands  broadly  announced  to  the  view,  and 
forces  itself  on  the  notice  of  all  other  men.  We  hear  much 
of  artificial  systems  of  theology.  But  in  the  Bible  itself, 
there  are  all  the  legible  characters  of  a  system  ;  and  we 
can  only  escape  from  the  observation  of  it  by  the  artificial 
compulsion  upon  ourselves  of  shutting  our  eyes.  Even  an 
infant  can  scarcely  look  abroad  upon  nature  without  the 
immediate  discovery  of  those  similarities  among  its  various 
and  innumerable  objects  by  which  it  is  led  to  systematize ; 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  359 

and  its  very  ability  to  name  and  to  distinguish  a  shell  and 
a  bird  and  a  flower,  prove  both  an  early  faculty  and  an 
early  disposition  to  classify  whole  hosts  of  individuals  by 
certain  leading  characteristics  which  belong  to  them.  What 
an  infant  does,  and  does  so  early  on  the  book  of  nature,  a 
school-boy  does,  and  that  too  at  a  very  early  stage  of  his 
converse  with  the  book  of  revelation.  It  is  not  by  any  pro- 
cess of  artificial  training  that  a  system  of  theology  is  in- 
fused into  the  mind  :  it  comes  spontaneously  in  reading  the 
Bible.  Even  the  untutored  peasant,  though  all  life  long  he 
had  been  kept  at  a  studious  distance  from  creeds  and  con- 
fessions and  compilations  of  the  faith — even  he,  if  but  gifted 
with  ordinary  penetration  and  memory,  could  not  finish  his 
intelligent  perusal  of  Scripture  without  rising  from  it  a  sys- 
tematic theologian.  It  is  not  that  he  has  constructed  a  sys- 
tem upon  the  Bible,  but  it  is  that  the  Bible  has  impressed 
a  system  upon  him.  Even  he  could  group  many  verses 
together,  and  recognize  the  same  pervading  truth  in  each 
individual  of  the  assemblage.  He  is  conscious  of  meeting  it 
in  various  and  distant  places  of  the  written  record.  He  is 
sensible  of  so  many  distinct  practical  uses,  by  which  the 
lessons  and  announcements  of  Scripture  may  be  distinguish- 
ed from  each  other.  He  discerns  the  relative  magnitude 
and  importance  of  these  lessons  ;  and  those  which  are 
supreme  in  estimation,  will,  of  course,  impress  themselves 
more  deeply  upon  his  memory  and  his  regards  than  those 
which  are  subordinate.  It  is  thus  that  he  can  not  traverse, 
even  in  the  order  in  which  they  lie,  the  many  chapters  of 
the  Bible,  without  carrying  off  the  impression  of  a  few  great 
principles  ;  or,  in  other  words,  without  the  impress  of  a  sys- 
tem upon  his  understanding.  It  is  true  that  with  him  it  may 
be  but  the  faint  and  shadowy  sketch  of  a  system,  and  the 
work  of  a  professional  theologian  may  be  requisite  to  give 
it  distinctness  of  parts,  and  definiteness  of  outline.  But 
this  is  not  a  work  done  by  him  at  random.  He  does  not 
forge  a  system :  he  only  finds  it  in  the  Bible.  It  is  lighted 
up  to  his  view  in  the  act  of  looking  to  the  very  quarter 
where  the  peasant  looked  before  him,  and  he  only  differs  in 


360  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

looking  more  closely  and  more  intelligently.  It  is  not  in 
virtue  of  his  laxer  attention  to  Scripture,  but  of  his  more 
earnest  heed  thereunto,  that  the  system  which  floats  so 
vaguely  and  uncertainly  in  the  mind  of  the  peasant,  assumes 
a  more  fixed  character  and  shape,  I  v^as  going  to  say,  in  the 
mind  of  the  philosopher.  And  it  were  rightly  said  ;  for,  in 
truth,  the  systematic  theologian  is  the  philosopher  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  his  office  to  mark  the  generic  resemblances 
which  obtain  among  the  specific  objects  of  his  contem- 
plation, and  thus  to  marshal  the  individual  sayings  of  the 
Bible  under  the  more  brief  and  comprehensive  sayings  of  a 
creed.  We  are  aware  that  there  are  theorists  in  Christi- 
anity ;  but  ever  remember,  that  to  systematize  is  not  to  the- 
orize. The  one  is  just  as  unlike  the  other,  as  the  philosophy 
of  nature  in  modern  times  is  unlike  to  the  philosophy  of 
nature  in  the  middle  ages.  To  frame  a  speculation  from 
the  gratuitous  fancies  of  one's  own  spirit,  is  a  wholly  differ- 
ent exercise  from  that  of  classifying  according  to  their  ob- 
served resemblances,  the  observed  individuals  which  have 
a  place  and  a  substantive  being  in  some  outer  field  of  con- 
templation. In  the  case  before  us,  these  individuals  are 
Bible  texts ;  and  the  theologian  who  systematizes  these  fan- 
cies nothing,  conjectures  nothing.  He  deals  not  with  what 
he  fancies,  but  with  what  he  finds — not  with  the  specious 
plausibihties  which  himself  hath  pictured,  but  with  the  solid 
materials  which  Scripture  or  the  Scripture  critic  hath  put 
into  his  hands. 

7.  But  lest  system  should  be  deemed  one  of  the  corrup- 
tions of  philosophy,  let  us  further  consider  if  in  the  Bible 
itself  there  be  any  sanction  given  to  those  mental  pro- 
cesses of  which  a  system  in  theology  is  the  inevitable  re- 
sult. Does  not  an  apostle  then  enter  into  such  a  process 
when,  in  his  following  summary  of  the  uses  of  Scripture, 
he  casts  it  into  certain  leading  divisions,  and  affixes  a  gen- 
eral characteristic  to  each  of  them  ? — "  All  Scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine, 
for  reproof,  for  correction,  and  instruction  in  righteousness." 
And  does  he  not  suppose  a  systematic  view  of  the  doctrines 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  361 

of  revelation  indispensable  to  every  expounder  of  it,  when 
he  speaks  of  it  as  the  qualification  of  "a  workman  who 
needeth  not  to  be  ashamed,  that  he  rightly  divideth  the 
truth  ?"  And  does  he  not  himself  systematize,  when,  within 
the  limits  of  a  sentence,  he  gives  a  brief  and  comprehen- 
sive statement  of  the  substance  of  his  preaching — telling  us 
that  it  was  "repentance  towards  God,  and  faith  towards 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ?"  And  does  he  not  describe  the 
work  of  Christian  instruction  as  if  it  proceeded  in  the  very 
way  in  which  a  system  is  expounded,  when  he  speaks  of 
"laying  the  foundation,"  and  communicates  by  a  very  few 
generalities  "  the  first  principles  of  the  oracles  of  God  ;" 
and  urges  his  disciples  to  go  on  from  the  simple  and  ele- 
mentary lessons  of  Christian  doctrine  to  the  perfection  of 
its  higher,  its  more  arduous  lessons — as  from  the  "  milk 
that  was  for  babes,"  to  the  "  strong  meat"  that  was  for 
those  of  "  full  age"  and  "  exercised  discernment  ?"  And 
above  all,  if  it  be  in  the  spirit  of  a  system  to  reduce  a 
whole  host  of  particulars  within  the  scope  of  one  sweeping 
and  comprehensive  generality ;  to  designate  a  numerous 
family  of  individual  truths  by  a  single  and  summary  ex- 
pression ;  to  lay  hold  of  one  great  object  or  great  princi- 
ple, and  to  concentrate  upon  it  a  supreme  and  almost  an 
exclusive  regard,  thereby  giving  us  to  understand  that  it 
enveloped  all,  and  subordinated  all,  how  can  this  be  m.ore 
strongly  exemplified  than  by  him  who  was  "  determined  to 
know  nothing  save  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified  ?"  The 
apostle  Paul  did  not  overlook  the  individualities  of  Scrip- 
ture, but  he  also  looked  at  the  reigning  character  which  he 
saw  to  be  in  each  of  them ;  and,  seizing  upon  it,  rendered 
it  the  collective  homage  which  is  due  unto  them  all. 

8.  This  antipathy  to  system  in  theology  proceeds  on  the 
mistake  of  confounding  the  generahties  of  our  systematic 
divines  with  the  generalities  of  our  old  schoolmen — instead 
of  which,  they  ought  to  be  considered  as  altogether  of  the 
same  character  with  the  generalities  of  modern  science. 
Philosophy  presents  us,  not  with  hypothetic  imaginations, 
but  with  the  generalities  of  actual  nature.  Systematic 
VOL.  vii. — Q 


362  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

theology  presents  us  not  with  gratuitous  or  hypothetic 
imaginations,  but  with  the  generahties  of  actual  Scripture. 
The  former  we  do  not  discard  as  we  would  the  nonentities 
of  aerial  speculation,  because  they  have  all  been  construct- 
ed on  the  findings  of  experience.  The  latter  we  should 
not  discard  as  we  would  the  nonentities  of  aerial  specula- 
tion, if  they  have  all  been  gathered  from  the  readings  and 
the  renderings  of  Scripture  criticism.  The  systematic  the- 
ologian, merely  as  such,  superadds  nothing  to  the  informa- 
tions of  the  Bible.  He  comes  not  under  the  denunciation 
that  shall  fall  upon  him  who  addeth  to  the  words  of  this 
book.  He  does  not  add,  he  only  classifies.  He  does  not 
add  what  is  new,  he  but  classifies  what  is  old.  When  a 
certain  doctrine  is  clearly  announced  in  one  Scripture  say- 
ing, and  the  same  doctrine  is  as  clearly  announced  in  ano- 
ther Scripture  saying,  he  but  remarks  on  this  identity ;  and 
this  indeed  is  a  very  diflferent  thing  from  hazarding  any  new 
doctrine  of  his  own.  He  utters  nothing  which  he  has  not 
found  and  fetched  from  the  document  itself.  The  Scrip- 
ture critic  gives  most  important  information,  when  he  tells 
the  separate  meaning  of  all  the  separate  sentences  in  the 
Bible.  And  the  systematic  theologian  gives  information 
additional  to  this,  and  most  important  too,  but  still  it  is  Bible 
information ;  not  perhaps  what  Scripture  in  any  single 
place  says,  but  what,  on  comparing  Scripture  with  Scrip- 
ture, is  found  to  be  clearly  enveloped  in  a  whole  cluster  of 
its  sayings,  collected  from  and  confirmed  by  as  many  dif- 
ferent places  as  there  are  individuals  in  the  cluster.  The 
Bible,  in  presenting  as  it  does  a  vast  number  of  individual 
objects,  may  be  truly  said  to  represent  along  with  them 
the  relations  and  resemblances  of  these  objects.  It  is  the 
part  of  the  systematic  theologian  to  tell  us  not  of  the  indi- 
viduals :  this  is  done  by  the  Scripture  critic.  But  it  is  his 
part  to  tell  us  of  the  relations  and  resemblances  between 
the  individuals  ;  and  in  the  act  of  doing  so,  he,  just  as  much 
as  the  other,  tells  us  of  nothing  but  that  which  is  contained 
within  the  four  corners  of  the  Bible. 

9.  Yet  let  us  not  forget  the  distinction  which  has  been  al- 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  363 

ready  adverted  to,  between  the  work  of  systematizing  in  the 
study  of  nature  and  the  work  of  systematizing  in  the  study 
of  the  Bible.  The  individuals  which  you  do  compare  in 
nature  are  the  direct  objects,  the  ipsa  corpora  of  the  science. 
The  individuals  which  you  compare  in  Scripture  are  not 
the  direct  objects,  but  the  sayings  which  relate  to  the  direct 
objects,  or  ipsa  corpora  in  theology.  In  the  study  of  na- 
ture, you  require  a  very  extensive  induction,  and  to  be  con- 
versant with  a  great  number  of  individuals,  ere  you  can 
found  on  the  resemblance  between  them  a  law  or  a  general 
expression,  which  shall  reach  to  all  and  include  all.  But 
in  the  Bible,  one  saying  might  announce  some  great  gener- 
ality that  is  comprehensive  of  many  individual  objects — so 
that  though  it  be  by  a  thousand  observations  in  nature  that 
we  arrive  at  a  principle,  we  may  arrive  at  a  principle  in 
theology  by  a  single  observation — that  is,  by  a  single  read- 
ing in  the  Bible.  If  it  were  only  to  be  learned  through 
the  medium  of  observation,  we  should  require  a  very  ex- 
tensive induction  ere  we  had  established  the  doctrine  that 
all  men  are  sinners.  But  when  learned  through  the  me- 
dium of  revelation,  the  same  doctrine  of  a  common  resem- 
blance between  all  the  individuals  of  our  species,  may  be 
established  by  means  of  one  verse,  or  the  clause  of  a  verse. 
And  the  same  is  true  of  other  relations  besides  resem- 
blances. It  is  by  a  few  unambiguous  passages  that  we 
ascertain  the  divinity  of  the  Son  and  the  divinity  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  so  that  without  the  same  sort  of  extended  sur- 
vey which  is  needed  in  the  science  of  nature,  we  can  fix  a 
most  important  relation  in  the  science  or  the  system  of 
theology,  even  our  relation  both  to  the  agent  who  sanctifies 
and  to  the  agent  who  redeemed  us.  By  thus  attending  to 
the  distinction  between  verbal  assertions  and  the  things 
which  are  asserted,  it  will  be  perceived,  on  the  one  hand, 
that  a  single  verse  might  assert  a  most  pervading  and  pre- 
eminent generality  in  the  system  of  revealed  truth ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  number  of  verses  might  agree  in  de- 
poning to  some  individuality  of  which  systematic  theology 
takes  no  notice.     This,  however,  does  not  supersede  the 


364  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

importance  of  comparing  Scripture  with  Scripture,  and  of 
grouping  texts  according  to  their  relations  and  resem- 
blances. If  you  do  not  add  to  the  comprehensiveness  of 
the  doctrine  by  this,  as  you  do  to  a  doctrine  in  science 
when  you  widen  the  field  of  induction,  you  at  least  add  to 
the  number  of  its  proof-passages;  and  then,  what  makes 
the  comparison  of  Scripture  with  itself  indispensable,  you 
evince  on  the  side  of  the  doctrine  in  question  a  harmonious 
as  well  as  an  abundant  testimony,  and  repel  that  charge 
of  contradiction  which  would  be  alike  fatal  to  the  doctrine 
and  to  the  authority  of  the  book  which  held  it ; — so  that 
in  explaining  the  word  of  God,  the  classification  of  its  kin- 
dred passages  is  called  for,  whether  the  common  meaning 
that  belongs  to  them  all  stand  broadly  forth  in  plain  and 
lucid  assertion,  or  lurks  more  obscurely,  and  must  be  elicit- 
ed by  inference  and  implication.  At  all  events,  the  re- 
spective provinces  of  the  Scripture  critic  and  the  systematic 
theologian  are  sufficiently  marked — it  being  the  office  of 
the  one  to  assign  its  precise  sense  to  each  individual  say- 
ing in  the  Bible,  and  of  the  other  to  ground  upon  the  say- 
ings the  general  scheme  of  doctrine  contained  in  it. 

10.  It  belongs  to  a  lower  faculty  of  our  nature  to  appre- 
hend individual  objects.  To  apprehend  the  relations  be- 
tween them,  to  compare,  and  abstract,  and  thence  to  gen- 
eralize, this  belongs  to  a  higher  faculty.  The  former  can 
be  done  to  a  great  extent  by  children,  or  even  by  idiots ; 
the  latter  marks  a  creature  of  fuller  growth  and  nobler 
endowments.  Surely  when  God  cometh  forth  from  His 
sanctuary  with  a  communication  to  our  world,  we  should 
go  forth  to  meet  it  with  all  the  powers  and  perceptions  of 
our  rational  nature.  We  do  it  not  enough  of  reverence,  if 
we  yield  but  the  response  to  it  of  one  faculty  alone — keep- 
ing all  the  rest  in  a  state  of  abeyance,  or  bidding  them 
away  from  the  interview.  This  might  be  a  suitable  wel- 
come from  those  who  can  hold  intercourse  with  the  word 
only  by  one  faculty,  but  not  a  suitable  welcome  from  those 
whom  God  Himself  has  gifted  with  capacities  great  and 
various.     It  is  not  enough  then  that  we  have  a  Scripture 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  365 

criticism  on  each  of  the  Bible's  specific  sayings,  we  must 
have  a  systematic  theology  that  compares  and  classifies, 
and  thence  educes  the  general  truths  and  harmonies  of  the 
Bible.  And  as  the  Psalmist  would  stir  up  all  that  is  in  him 
to  bless  the  holy  name  of  God,  so  ought  we  to  stir  up  all 
that  is  within  us  to  entertain  and  do  homage  to  that  word 
which  God  hath  exalted  above  all  His  name. 

11.  To  be  a  systematic  theologian,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
travel  forth  of  the  record.  He  has  only  to  assemble  to- 
gether whether  by  their  relations  or  by  their  similarities,  the 
things  that  are  within  it.  This  he  does  by  the  apostolic 
direction  of  "  meditate  on  these  things,"  not  on  things 
extrinsic  to  revelation,  but  on  the  very  things,  new  or  old, 
which  every  scribe  rightly  instructed  can  bring  forth  of  the 
treasury.  We  ask  him  not  to  go  forth  without  the  limits 
of  the  book  of  revelation,  or  to  conjure  up  from  the  dark 
unknown  beyond  it  any  presumptions  and  plausibilities  of 
his  own.  We  ask  him  only  to  give  earnest  heed  unto  the 
word  of  God's  testimony.  He  adds  nothing  of  his  own 
by  this  exercise:  he  only  discovers  w^hat  is  set  before  him 
in  the  book  of  the  counsel  of  God.  He  becomes  wise  there- 
by, not  above  what  is  written,  but  only  up  to  what  is  writ- 
ten. Or,  in  other  words,  it  is  not  by  means  of  any  new 
individual  sayings  uttered  from  himself,  but  by  giving  him- 
self wholly  to  investigate  the  resemblances,  and  the  affini- 
ties, and  the  applications,  which  obtain  among  the  individ- 
ual sayings  already  spread  out  before  him  on  the  record  of 
God,  and  to  which  he  does  not  and  dares  not  make  any 
additions  of  his  own  ;  it  is  thus  that  he  becomes  a  scientific 
and  systematic  theologian.  He  invents  nothing.  He  ere-, 
ates  nothing.  He  is  as  little  a  creator  in  the  word  of  God, 
as  he  is  a  creator  in  the  works  of  God.  He  acts  the  crea- 
tor in  neither,  but  he  acts  the  observer  in  both  ;  and  all 
that  is  needful  for  the  construction  of  a  systematic  theology, 
is,  that  the  observations  shall  not  be  confined  to  the  things 
of  Scripture,  each  viewed  in  their  separate  individuality 
alone,  but  shall  be  extended  to  the  relations  which  obtain 
between  the  individuals.     It  is  when  thus  employed  that — 


366  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

not  by  the  faculty  of  invention,  but  by  the  legitimate  exer- 
cise of  other  faculties— there  emerge  those  generalities 
which  constitute  a  system,  and  without  which  we  affirm 
that  all  our  acquaintance  with  the  Bible  would  be  but  the 
idiot  acquisition  of  him  who  had  every  text  and  sentence 
of  it  upon  his  memory.  It  is  by  system,  in  fact,  that  the 
student  not  only  becomes  a  profoundly  intelligent  theolo- 
gian, but  it  is  moreover  by  system  that  he  grows  in  the 
practical  wisdom  of  Christianity — more  especially  in  that 
w^ork  and  wisdom  of  a  Christian  minister,  by  his  proficien- 
cy in  which  it  is  that  his  profiting  appears  unto  all. 

12.  And  alike  as  the  philosopher  looks  with  charmed 
eye  on  those  hidden  symphonies  of  the  divine  workmanship 
which,  by  means  of  science  and  of  system,  himself  hath 
evolved,  so  it  is  by  systematizing,  too,  that  the  theologian 
arrives  at  a  contemplation  no  less  glorious  in  the  symphonies 
of  the  divine  word.  It  is  indeed  one  of  the  highest  luxuries 
of  intellect,  to  behold  in  nature  a  simple  and  sublime  mechan- 
ism, whose  countless  myriads  of  phenomena  can  be  traced 
to  a  few  great  and  presiding  influences — as  when  the  one 
law  of  gravitation,  simple  and  universal  among  the  rolling 
wonders  of  the  firmament,  subordinates  to  itself  all  the  paths 
and  all  the  periods  of  astronomy.  There  might  have  been 
expected  such  analogies  between  the  material  and  the 
spiritual  economy,  as  that  they  should  have  borne  the 
impress  of  the  same  divinity  who  emanated  them  both;  and 
that,  as  in  the  one  so  in  the  other,  there  would  be  certain 
summits  of  lofty  speculation,  whence,  by  the  help  of  some 
great  principle,  a  commanding  survey  might  be  taken  over 
the  wide  domains  of  a  high  and  heavenly  administration. 
And  thus  it  will  be  found,  too,  that  the  system  of  Christianity 
has  its  magnificence  and  its  mechanism,  and  its  exquisite 
harmonies ;  that  as  there  is  a  manifold  wisdom  in  creation, 
so  there  is  a  manifold  wisdom  in  the  Church,  a  body  politic 
"fitly  framed  together,"  with  its  central  and  presiding  influ- 
ence, and  its  great  channel  of  conveyance,  by  which  the 
spiritual  virtue  passes  from  the  fountain-head  to  all  the 
members.     When  we  give  earnest  heed  unto  that  dispensa- 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  367 

tion,  whose  object  is  to  re-adjust  the  broken  union  between 
heaven  and  earth,  we  shall  be  regaled  by  the  same  or 
similar  spectacles,  and  feel  all  the  pleasure  and  triumph  of 
the  same  mental  exercises  which  we  so  often  experience 
when  contemplating  the  processes  of  science.  This  will 
more  especially  be  felt  when  we  look  to  the  actions  and  the 
re-actions  between  Christianity  and  Nature ;  or  to  the  re- 
spondency  which  there  is  between  the  moral  forces  of  the 
Bible  and  the  moral  nature  of  him  to  whom  that  Bible  is 
addressed.  Whether  we  direct  our  regards  to  that  supernal 
application  of  truth  and  doctrine  which  hath  come  to  us 
from  above,  or  to  the  recipient  feelings  and  faculties  of  the 
men  who  are  below,  and  who  are  to  be  regenerated  thereby 
-^we  shall  meet  with  such  a  harmony  of  parts,  such  a  de- 
pendence of  effects  upon  causes,  such  an  adaptation  of  means 
to  an  end,  as  form  the  very  lineament  of  a  system  at  once 
beneficent  and  beautiful.  But  what  serves  most  of  all  to 
characterize  it  as  a  system,  is  that  aspect  which  it  has  of 
simplicity  and  greatness,  when  it  offers  to  our  notice  one 
great  object,  or  one  great  and  comprehensive  principle — as 
in  the  upper  kingdom  of  heaven,  when  we  look  unto  Him 
who  is  the  head  of  that  great  mediatorial  economy  w^hich 
has  been  instituted  for  the  restoration  of  our  world ;  or  as 
in  what  may  be  called  the  nether  kingdom  of  heaven,  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  in  our  hearts,  when  we  look  to  the 
supremacy  of  faith,  and  observe  its  paramount  ascendency 
over  the  aims  and  affections  of  the  inner  man — so  as  to 
transform  him  whom  it  actuates  into  a  good  and  a  godlike 
creature.  After  that  Scripture  criticism  hath  done  its  utter- 
most, these  are  the  sublimer  studies  which  remain  to  us. 
After  that  the  specific  import  of  each  of  the  sayings  hath 
been  thoroughly  explored,  there  are  spectacles  of  grace  and 
of  grandeur  still  to  be  evolved,  and  which  will  abide  in  as 
profound  obscurity  to  us  as  to  the  infant  or  the  idiot,  unless 
we  found  a  system  upon  the  sayings.  Without  system,  in 
fact,  we  could  neither  assign  the  bearings  nor  trace  the  de- 
velopments of  an  economy,  in  comparison  with  the  great- 
ness of  whose  objects  all  other  things  are  ephemeral  and 


368  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

vain — an  economy  which  had  its  first  buddings  at  the  com- 
mencement of  our  world,  and  which  hath  marched  and 
brightened  onward  in  stately  progression  through  all  the 
generations  of  our  world's  history — which  had  prophets  for 
its  precursors,  and  miracles  for  its  attendants  and  its  heralds 
— the  noblest  surely  of  all  contemplations,  having  its  origin* 
in  the  unsearchable  wisdom  of  God,  and  its  issues  in  a 
deathless  eternity. 

13.  A  sound  systematic  theology  rests  as  much  on  Scrip- 
ture criticism  as  its  basis,  as  a  sound  philosophy  rests  on  the 
basis  of  experiments  and  facts.  If  it  be  the  part  of  the  one 
to  construct  a  framework,  it  is  the  part  of  the  other  to  furnish 
the  materials;  and  indeed  systematic  theology  goes  beyond 
her  legitimate  sphere,  if  she  make  not  use  of  the  very 
materials,  and  of  no  other,  which  Scripture  criticism  puts 
into  her  hand.  The  latter,  therefore,  stands  in  a  much 
higher  relation  to  the  former  than  that  of  a  mere  auxiliary 
for  helping  on  the  edifice.  It  supplies  the  whole  matter  or 
substratum  of  the  edifice.  That,  surely,  is  no  subordinate 
function  to  deal  out  the  substantive  things  which  it  is  but 
the  office  of  the  other  to  arrange  or  put  together.  The 
subservience  then  of  Scripture  criticism  to  systematic  the- 
ology must  be  quite  obvious;  though  perhaps  it  may  not  be 
so  obvious,  that  systematic  theology  does  in  return  contri- 
bute a  certain  aid,  does  cast  a  certain  reflex  light  on  the 
labors  of  Scripture  criticism.  The  truth  is,  that  the  ten- 
dency to  system  in  science  speeds  the  work  of  natural 
observation,  and  the  tendency  to  system  in  theology  speeds 
the  work  of  scriptural  observation.  In  both  it  is  a  system 
in  embryo,  or  a  system  in  progress,  that  stimulates  to  a  more 
near  and  diligent  inspection  of  the  objects  whose  relations 
or  whose  resemblances  we  ai'e  attending  to.  And  when 
these  objects  are  kindred  passages  of  Scripture,  we  find  that 
to  be  in  the  midst  of  them  is  to  be  in  a  region  of  light, 
where  all  the  objects  become  greatly  more  visible  than 
before,  by  the  very  reflection  which  they  cast  on  each  other. 
You  are  not  to  conceive,  then,  though  Scripture  criticism 
furnishes  the  materials,  and  systematic  theology  arranges 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  369 

theai,  that,  in  the  order  of  time,  the  task  of  the  former  is 
completed  ere  that  the  latter  takes  its  commencement.  Our 
observation  of  resemblances  begins  almost  as  early  as  our 
observation  of  individuals  does  ;  and  accordingly  system, 
whether  in  science  or  theology,  begins  with  our  earliest 
notice  of  the  resemblances  between  individuals,  though  it  is 
only  completed  by  our  thorough  observation  of  these  resem- 
blances. So  that  if,  on  the  one  hand,  Scripture  criticism 
present  the  objects  which  systematic  theology  compares 
together — on  the  other  hand,  systematic  theology,  even 
when  obscurely  guessing  at  the  imagined  resemblances  of 
objects,  gives  both  energy  and  guidance  to  the  investigations 
of  Scripture  criticism.  This  is  quite  in  harmony  with  what 
has  been  well  remarked  by  philosophers  on  the  use  of 
hypothesis  in  stimulating  and  directing  the  work  of  obser- 
vation. We  arrive  sooner  at  the  truth  in  this  way,  than 
by  throwing  ourselves  abroad,  as  it  were,  on  a  multitude 
of  particulars,  without  even  the  imagination  of  a  theory. 
Better  than  to  set  forth  in  this  blank  and  unoccupied  state 
on  the  work  of  inquiry,  is  it  to  set  forth  with  some  pre- 
vious guess  or  hypothesis  in  our  head.  It  is  better,  even 
though  the  hypothesis  should  turn  out  to  be  a  false  one ; 
our  great  aim  of  course,  will  be  to  verify  our  guess.  Sup- 
pose it  then  disproved,  we  substitute  another  in  its  place — 
from  which,  though  again  driven  to  another  and  another, 
we  shall  come  by  a  tentative  process  to  the  truth  at  last. 
Now,  the  affirmation  in  regard  to  the  discoveries  of  science, 
is,  that  we  come  sooner  to  the  truth  in  this  way  than  if  we 
enter  on  the  work  of  investigation  free  of  all  incipient  ten- 
dency to  systematize. 

14.  Systematic  theology  is  of  the  same  use  to  Scripture 
criticism  that  an  hypothesis  is  to  science — not  to  supersede 
investigation,  but  to  direct  investigation.  Just  as  in  the 
one,  hypothesis  has  often  been  the  instrument  of  discovery 
by  the  experiments  which  it  suggests,  or  by  the  tracts  of 
observation  to  which  it  has  pointed  the  way ;  so  in  the 
other,  actual  discoveries  of  the  Bible's  primitive  meaning 
have  been  made  just  by  the  discoveries  of  a  systematic  but 


370  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

as  yet  hypothetical  theology  having  been  put  upon  their 
trial.  While  systematic  theology  is  not  yet  perfected,  but 
in  progress,  it  might  have  ventured  on  affirmations  which 
ought  not  to  be  admitted  as  certainties,  but  only  to  be  en- 
tertained as  guesses,  and  to  remain  in  this  state  of  abey- 
ance till  the  guesses  have  either  been  disproved  or  verified. 
It  is  evident  that  the  likelier  these  guesses  are,  the  nearer 
must  be  the  harmony  of  those  Scriptures  w^hich  are  brought 
together  in  the  v^ork  of  scrutinizing  them.  The  attention 
of  the  inquirer  is  thus  more  guided  to  and  concentrated  on 
those  parellel  passages,  by  the  comparison  of  w^hich  it  is 
that  some  new  light  will  most  readily  be  made  to  arise. 
An  hypothesis  is  not  a  discovery,  but  it  may  serve  as  a  fin- 
ger-post to  those  places  where  the  discovery  is  at  length 
to  be  found.  Verisimilitudes  are  not  verities,  but  they  may 
serve  as  the  indices  of  that  path  in  the  prosecution  of 
which  they  shall  at  last  brighten  into  verities.  Such  is  the 
love  of  system,  that  systematic  theology  has  in  all  ages 
kept  ahead  of  Scripture  criticism  ;  but  in  so  doing  the  one 
has  dragged  the  other  forward  at  a  greatly  faster  rate  than 
it  would  have  advanced  of  its  own  native  tendencies.  We 
hazard  the  assertion,  that  Scriptui'e  criticism  has  come 
forth  in  tenfold  greater  abundance,  and  received  a  tenfold 
better  direction,  in  virtue  of  that  systematic  theology  by 
which  it  is  outrun. 

15.  I  may  here  offer  one  remark  on  the  guidance  which 
is  afforded  to  Scripture  criticism  by  the  analogy  of  the 
faith.  I  think  that  Dr.  Campbell  sets  too  little  value  on  it 
as  a  principle  of  interpretation ;  and  I  feel  fully  persuaded 
that,  had  but  the  analogy  occurred  to  him  between  the 
use  of  this  principle  to  a  Scripture  critic  and  the  use  of 
hypothesis  in  observation,  a  mind  so  acute  and  philoso- 
phical as  his  would  not  have  so  slighted  its  authority  in 
the  business  of  assigning  their  specific  import  to  certain 
words  and  phrases  in  Holy  Writ.  From  the  extreme 
length  to  which  these  general  observations  have  been  alrea- 
dy carried,  I  dare  not  venture  at  present  upon  the  details 
of  this  question  ;  but  let  me,  for  the  purpose  of  making  my- 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  371 

self  intelligible,  just  advert  to  one  of  the  simplest  cases, 
taken  from  that  verse  in  the  Apocalypse  where  our  Sav- 
iour is  styled — "  The  beginning  of  the  creation  of  God" — . 
apx^j  rov  KTiGECjg  rov  Qsov.  A  question  that  might  be  raised 
on  this  passage  is,  whether  did  the  creation  begin  with 
Christ,  or  did  Christ  begin  the  creation  ?  whether  was  He 
before  all  other  created  things  as  being  himself  created  the 
first,  or  was  He  the  creator  of  all  things  ?  If  the  last  be 
held  as  the  signification,  then  apx^]  must  be  understood  not 
as  meaning  a  commencement,  but  a  commencer,  an  efficient 
principle.  Now,  though  I  am  not  aware  of  any  counte- 
nance given  to  this  interpretation  of  apx'i]  by  profane  writ- 
ers, excepting  perhaps  that  given  by  Ovid  in  the  line — 
"Ille  opifex  rerum  mundi  melioris  origo" — where  origo 
must  be  understood  in  the  active  sense  of  an  originator : 
yet  we  are  compelled  to  adopt  it,  not  however  by  our  def- 
erence to  a  system,  but  by  our  deference  to  the  plain  and 
undeniable  sense  of  other  passages  in  the  Bible — more 
especially  where  it  is  said  of  Christ,  that  "by  Him  all 
things  were  created,"  and  "  that  without  Him  was  not 
anything  made  that  was  made."  In  thus  doing  we  defer 
to  the  analogy  of  the  faith,  but  agreeably  to  this  unex- 
ceptionable canon  of  criticism,  that  "  such  passages  as  are 
expressed  with  brevity  are  to  be  expounded  by  those 
where  the  same  doctrines  or  duties  are  expressed  more 
largely  and  fully." 

16.  Those  who  underrate  the  evidence  that  is  afforded 
by  the  analogy  of  the  faith,  should  be  careful  lest  in  so 
doing  they  may  sometimes  set  aside  what,  in  all  sound  phi- 
lology, is  reckoned  the  clearest  and  most  conclusive  of  all 
evidence,  even  that  which  is  struck  out  by  the  comparison 
of  kindred  passages ;  and  which  proceeds  on  the  supposi- 
tion, no  vain  one  surely  when  inspiration  is  in  the  case, 
that  the  author  is  consistent  with  himself.  The  analogy  of 
the  faith  resolves  itself  into  the  analogy  of  like  passages, 
from  the  comparison  of  which  some  one  doctrine  or  article 
of  the  faith  has  been  evolved.  It  seems  evident  to  me  that 
Dr.  Campbell  never  speaks  of  a  system  of  divinity  without 


372  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  lurking  imagination  that  there  must  be  always  some- 
thing of  human  invention  in  it ;  whereas  such  a  system  may 
be  as  much  grounded  on  observation  as  are  any  of  the  spe- 
cific results  of  Scripture  criticism.  Only  grant  that  by 
observation  we  take  note  of  the  likenesses  or  relations  of 
things,  as  well  as  we  do  of  the  specialities  of  things,  and 
there  may  be  just  as  little  of  the  speculative  or  the  gratui- 
tous in  system  as  there  is  in  the  most  rigid  conclusions  of 
a  critical  or  a  grammatical  argument.  A  system  of  faith 
may  be  the  result  of  a  process  strictly  observational ; 
and  by  setting  aside  the  analogy  of  such  a  system,  or 
of  such  a  faith,  you  may  be  setting  aside  the  best  evi- 
dence which  can  be  adduced  in  support  of  many  an  inter- 
pretation. 

17.  They  who,  like  Dr.  Campbell,  can  never  think  of 
systems  in  theology,  but  they  continually  associate  the  idea 
of  human  invention  w^th  them,  should  remember  that  the 
relations  between  the  objects  are  as  much  within  the  limits 
of  any  offered  scene  of  contemplation  as  the  objects  them- 
selves are.  We  have  not  become  acquainted  with  all  that 
is  within,  by  merely  attending  to  these  objects  in  their  indi- 
viduality ;  we  must  further  attend  to  the  relations  and  re- 
seaiblances  that  are  between  them.  Now,  it  is  with  this 
latter  that  systematic  theology  is  conversant.  It  originates 
and  invents  nothing  of  its  own.  It  but  classifies  that  which 
is  submitted  to  it.  So  that  all  its  doctrines  are  gathered 
from  the  record — all  its  generalities  have  their  locum  standi 
within  the  four  corners  of  the  Bible.  A  diagram  in  math- 
ematics contains  within  its  periphery,  not  the  individual 
lines  only,  but  the  proportions  or  the  equalities  between 
them  ;  and  the  geometrical  reasoner,  in  asserting  these  last, 
asserts  as  much  the  contents  of  the  diagram  as  when  assert- 
ing the  existence  of  its  separate  parts.  And  so  of  the  sys- 
tematic theologian.  He  travels  forth  of  the  record  no 
more  than  the  Scripture  critic  does.  What  he  announces 
is  not  fetched  ah  extra,  but  is  the  result  of  a  busy  internal 
examination  ;  is  not  the  product  either  of  fancy  or  observa- 
tion employed  on  things  which  are  without,  but  is  the  pro- 


SYSTExMATIC  THEOLOGY.  373 

duct  of  diligent  combination  and  comparison  employed  on 
things  which  are  within.  A  system  in  theology  is  not  a 
superinducement  on  the  Bible,  but  an  envelopment  in,  or 
at  most  a  germination  from  it. 

18.  However  it  is  not  the  idea  of  invention  alone  which 
explains  the  whole  of  this  antipathy  to  theological  systems. 
They  are  further  regarded  as  the  offspring  of  illiberal  sec- 
tarianism. To  meet  this  prejudice,  I  cannot  do  better  than 
present  you  with  the  following  admirable  remarks,  taken 
from  Moses  Stuart's  Ernesti,  in  which  I  fully  acquiesce  :— 
"Very  much  has  been  said,  both  for  and  against  the  anal- 
ogy of  faith  as  a  rule  of  interpretation.  I  may  safely  add, 
that  on  this  subject,  as  well  as  on  many  others,  very  much 
has  been  said  amiss  for  want  of  proper  definitions.  What 
is  the  analogy  of  faith  ?  It  is  either  simply  scriptural  or 
sectarian.  By  scriptural  analogy,  I  mean  that  the  obvious 
and  incontrovertible  sense  of  clear  passages  of  Scripture 
affords  a  rule  by  which  we  may  reason  analogically  con- 
cerning the  meaning  of  obscure  passages,  or  at  least  by 
which  we  may  show  what  obscure  passages  cannot  mean. 
For  example,  God  is  a  spirit,  omnipotent,  supreme,  the  gov- 
ernor and  creator  of  all  things,  &c.,  are  truths  so  plainly 
and  incontrovertibly  taught  in  the  Scripture,  that  all  the 
passages  which  would  seem  to  represent  Him  as  material, 
local,  limited  in  His  knowledge  and  power,  are  to  be  inter- 
preted agreeably  to  analogy  with  the  former  truths.  The 
same  thing  holds  true  of  other  doctrines  taught  in  the  same 
perspicuous  manner.  We  explain  what  is  doubtful  or  ob- 
scure by  the  application  of  what  is  plain.  This  rule  is  not 
appropriate  to  the  Scriptures  only :  it  is  adopted  by  all 
good  interpreters  of  profane  authors.  It  is  a  rule  which 
common  sense  prescribes,  and  is  therefore  well  grounded." 
— "  If  the  question  then  be  asked,  whether  scriptural  anal- 
ogy of  faith  is  the  rule  of  interpretation?  the  answer  must 
be  readily  given  in  the  affirmative.  But  the  analogy  of 
the  faith  or  creed  of  any  party  of  Christians,  taken  without 
abatement,  cannot  be  applied  as  a  rule  of  exegesis,  unless  it 
be  assumed  that  the  whole  creed  of  that  party  is  certainly 


374  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

correct." — "  The  analogy  of  party  faith  cannot  be  our  rule 
of  interpretation." 

19.  You  will  perceive  more  clearly  the  use  of  system  in 
the  elucidation  of  Scripture,  by  pondering  well  the  differ- 
ence between  the  two  questions,  "  What  is  the  meaning  of 
a  given  passage?"  or,  "Is  this  the  meaning  of  it?"  In  the 
prosecution  of  the  former,  which  is  the  more  general  ques- 
tion, you  launch  forth  on  a  wide  ocean  of  indefinite  possi- 
biUties,  and  may  wander  in  trackless  uncertainty  without 
ever  coming  at  a  clear  or  satisfactory  determination.  In 
the  prosecution  of  the  latter,  or  the  restricted  question,  you 
concentrate,  as  it  were,  all  the  forces  of  your  inquiry  on  a 
single  point ;  and  even  though  in  doing  so  you  should  fal- 
sify the  supposition  which  you  had  hoped  to  substantiate, 
another  system,  obtained  by  some  slight  or  perhaps  mate- 
rial variation  upon  the  former  one,  will  suggest  another 
supposition ;  till  by  a  succession  of  trials,  each  of  which 
had  some  distinct  or  definite  object  in  view,  you  arrive 
much  sooner  at  a  conclusive  and  sound  interpretation  than 
when,  dismissing  all  the  lights  of  analogy  or  general  prin- 
ciple, you  had  no  system,  whether  matured  or  in  embryo, 
to  pilot  you  on  your  way.  It  is  thus,  we  are  persuaded, 
that  system  has  speeded  inconceivably  the  march  of  Scrip- 
ture criticism.  It  has  led,  more  particularly,  to  a  far 
closer  and  more  frequent  confronting  and  cross-examina- 
tion of  kindred  passages,  to  a  busier  comparison  of  scrip- 
tural things  with  scriptural.  And  if  it  be  true,  that  an 
author  can  best  explain  himself,  or  that  the  Bible  is  its  own 
best  interpreter,  then  the  harmonies  of  system,  if  not  the 
fittest  proofs  upon  the  question,  do  at  least  send  the  ques- 
tion to  the  fittest  tribunal,  by  pointing  as  they  do  the  inqui- 
rer's way  to  the  harmonies  of  the  word. 

20.  The  two,  in  fact,  to  use  a  familiar  phrase,  the  two — 
that  is  Scripture  criticism  and  systematic  theology — are 
constantly  working  to  each  other's  hands.  The  most 
splendid  example  of  a  process  analogous  to  this  in 
science  is  Newton's  law  of  gravitation,  when  the  general 
doctrine  and  the  observation  of  special  phenomena  acted 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  375 

and  re-acted  so  powerfully  on  each  other.  There  can  be 
no  doubt,  in  the  first  instance,  that  the  promulgation  of  the 
law  gave  rise  to  many  thousands  of  observations,  which 
might  never  else  have  been  suggested,  and  that  with  a  view 
either  to  refute  or  to  confirm  it.  And  in  the  second  in- 
stance, the  confirmation  which  it  met  was  nearly  universal; 
and  indeed  entirely  so  within  the  limits  of  accessible  nature, 
with  the  exception  of  one  solitary  but  rebellious  phenome- 
non which  defied  for  a  century  all  the  efforts  of  mathema- 
ticians to  reduce  it  to  a  harmony  with  that  great  principle 
which  subordinated  to  itself  all  the  other  planetary  move- 
ments. Meanwhile  the  law,  beauteous  and  magnificent,  if 
only  universal,  had  the  burden  of  this  exception  laid  upon 
it.  The  love  of  system,  and  the  love  of  generality,  were 
kept,  pro  tanto,  in  abeyance.  It  was  in  the  very  essence 
of  Lord  Bacon's  philosophy  so  to  defer  to  the  prerogatives 
of  observation,  that  so  long  as  it  furnished  even  but  one 
refractory  appearance,  this  was  held  in  arrest  of  a  judgment 
that  would  have  else  been  absolute  and  co-extensive  with 
all  truth.  It  required  the  humility,  as  well  as  the  hardihood 
of  a  thorough  experimentalist  to  resist  the  fascination ;  but 
nobly  at  length  was  it  rewarded.  After  the  suspense  of 
two  or  three  generations,  the  Newtonian  system  was  at 
length  evolved  out  of  this  last  and  only  difficulty  which 
adhered  to  it.  By  the  calculations  of  Laplace,  the  excep- 
tion from  the  law  has  been  demonstrated  to  be  an  exempli- 
fication of  the  law.  Till  this  reconciliation  was  effected, 
philosophers,  true  to  the  inductive  spirit,  submitted  to  all 
the  mental  uneasiness  of  this  abatement  or  obscuration  of 
a  great  principle,  and  refused  to  the  sublimest  generality 
of  nature  the  place  which  it  has  now  attained  of  an  abso- 
lute and  universal  category.  Now  it  stands  first  and  fore- 
most among  the  articles  of  their  orthodoxy;  but  they  would 
not,  and  could  not,  recognize  that  position  of  supremacy 
which  it  at  last  reached,  till  they  had  fully  acquitted  them- 
selves of  the  supreme  homage  which  is  due  to  the  lessons 
of  observation. 

21.  I  bring  forward  this  fine  example,  because  it  serves 


376  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

to  illustrate  the  high  prerogatives  of  Scripture  criticism, 
and  the  deference  which  systematic  theology  should  ren- 
der to  it.  In  the  Bible  there  are  materials  for  system,  just 
as  in  nature  there  are  materials  for  science.  But  in  both, 
it  should  be  our  first  and  highest  principle  to  see  that  we 
employ  the  very  materials  which  either  the  one  or  the 
other  has  put  into  our  hands.  It  is  for  observation  to  de- 
termine what  the  materials  are  in  the  former.  It  is  for 
Scripture  criticism  to  determine  what  the  materials  are  in 
the  latter.  In  our  fondness  for  generalities,  we  may  often 
feel  tempted  by  the  semblance  of  a  harmonious  system  in 
the  Bible  to  the  premature  adoption  of  it.  And  it  may 
happen  as  the  fruit  of  our  persevering  researches,  that  the 
semblance  may  brighten  towards  certainty.  But  ere  the 
certainty  is  conclusively  attained,  it  is  our  part  patiently  to 
wait  the  further  elucidations  of  Scripture  criticism  ;  and 
instead  of  permitting  the  speculation  to  outrun  the  evidence, 
we  should  treat  the  dogma  as  we  would  a  prisoner  upon 
his  trial,  so  long  as  there  is  one  impracticable  text,  which, 
with  all  our  lights  of  erudition  and  philosophy,  still  appears 
to  stand  in  its  way.  And  let  us  not  be  fearful  of  the  con- 
sequence. The  systems  of  science  in  modern  days,  even 
limited  and  corrected  as  they  are  by  the  findings  of  expe- 
rience, how  much  fairer  to  look  upon,  how  infinitely  more 
graceful  and  glorious,  even  when  merely  viewed  as  specta- 
cles of  tasteful  contemplation,  than  are  all  the  theories  of 
the  schoolmen.  The  reason  is  obvious.  What  we  actually 
find  is  the  solid  archetype  of  those  conceptions  which  are 
in  the  mind  of  the  Deity.  What  we  ourselves  fancy,  is 
but  the  shadowy  forthputting  of  those  conceptions  which 
have  arisen  in  the  mind  of  man.  The  one  is  the  product 
of  that  taste  and  wisdom  which  are  in  the  mind  of  the  Cre- 
ator ;  the  other  is  the  product  of  that  taste  and  wisdom 
which  belong  to  the  creature.  Hence  it  is  that  the  Plan- 
etarium of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  is  altogether  so  much  more 
sublime,  yet  so  much  simpler  a  harmony  than  the  Planeta- 
rium of  Des  Cartes,  or  of  Tycho  Brahe,  or  of  Ptolemy. 
And  what  philosophers  have  realized  in  nature  by  not  de- 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  377 

serting  the  guidance  of  observation,  theologians  will  realize 
in  I'evelation  by  not  deserting  the  guidance  of  criticism. 
They  will  reach  to  far  loftier  contemplations  by  simple  faith 
in  the  words  of  God,  than  by  accompanying  man  in  his 
sublimest  flights  of  speculation ;  and  while  scrupulously 
adhering  to  the  informations  of  the  Bible,  they  will  at 
length  attain  such  a  view  of  its  doctrines  as  shall  unite  the 
magnificence  of  theory  with  the  solidity  of  truth. 

22.  It  is  thus  that  systematic  theology  and  Scripture 
criticism  go  hand  in  hand.  If  the  one  be  said  to  fabricate, 
it  is  only  with  the  materials  which  the  other  furnishes.  Its 
fabrications  are  not  the  products  of  fancy :  they  are  only 
classifications  made  on  the  findings  of  observation,  and 
such  classifications,  too,  as  are  made  on  the  observed  resem- 
blances which  obtain  between  these  findings.  The  func- 
tions of  systematic  theology  and  Scripture  criticism  are 
distinct;  yet  assuredly  the  one  is  as  much  an  observer  as 
the  other  is.  If  the  one  observe  the  existence  and  nature 
of  individuals,  the  other  observes  their  relations  and  resem- 
bknces.  The  work  of  a  systematic  theologian  is  through- 
out an  experimental  process,  beside  having  the  firmness  of 
an  experimental  basis  to  rest  upon.  When  a  system  is  said 
to  be  fabricated,  the  very  term  begets  an  antipathy  against 
it.  It  is  felt  as  if  to  fabricate  were  to  create ;  but  system- 
atic theology,  when  rightly  conducted,  creates  nothing.  It 
does  not  excogitate — it  explores.  It  proceeds  not  by  inven- 
tion, but  discovery  ;  or  ijf  ever  chargeable  with  invention, 
it  is  but  the  invention  of  devices,  which,  like  the  instru- 
ments of  science,  might  enable  the  inquirer  to  prosecute  the 
work  of  discovery  with  greater  efifect.  The  doctrine  of 
the  atonement  in  Scripture  is  as  little  a  thing  of  invention, 
and  as  much  a  thing  of  discovery,  as  the  doctrine  of  grav- 
itation in  nature — the  one  grounded  on  a  multitude  of 
proof-passages,  each  of  which  had  been  verified  by  Scrip- 
ture criticism — the  other  grounded  on  a  multitude  of  phe- 
nomena, each  of  which  had  been  verified  by  observation. 
And  here  it  occurs  that  a  system,  even  though  designated 
by  the  name  of  its  human  inventor,  though,  in  one  view 


INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


the  production  of  man,  may  be  as  much  the  production  of 
God  as  any  of  the  individual  and  substantive  realities 
which,  by  His  creative  power,  He  has  called  into  existence. 
The  Newtonian  system  was  the  work  of  God,  though  the 
discovery  of  Newton  ;  and  so  a  theological  system  may  be 
the  work  of  God,  though  the  discovery  of  man.  When 
one  says  that  he  will  draw  his  theology,  not  from  Calvin, 
but  from  the  Bible,  he  may,  under  the  guise  of  a  great  and 
undoubted  principle,  have  been  prompted  to  make  such  an 
utterance  by  as  irrational  an  imagination,  as  when  one  says 
that  he  will  draw  his  astronomy,  not  from  Newton's  Prin- 
cipia,  but  from  a  direct  view  of  the  material  heavens.  The 
one  is,  or  ought  to  be,  as  much  an  interpreter  as  the  other. 
Calvin  an  interpreter  of  Scripture,  both  in  its  texts  and  in 
its  generalities — Newton  an  interpreter  of  nature,  both  in  its 
phenomena  and  its  laws.  Should  the  one  forsake  the  guid- 
ance of  observation,  let  him  be  disowned  ,  should  the  other 
forsake  the  guidance  of  Scripture  criticism,  let  him  be 
equally  disowned.  What  we  expect  from  both  is  a  sys- 
tem, but  an  observational  system,  not  a  gratuitous  theory. 
Newton  has  fulfilled  this  expectation.  He  has  presented 
us  with  a  system,  but  in  the  construction  of  it,  I  should 
rather  say,  in  the  evolution  of  it,  he,  from  first  to  last,  acted 
in  the  spirit  of  a  strict  experimentalist — he,  from  the  outset, 
resisting  the  fascinations  of  theory,  set  himself  down  among 
the  multitudinous  facts  and  phenomena  which  nature  offer- 
ed to  him,  till  order  emerged  out  of  the  apparent  confusion, 
and  a  magnificent  harmony  at  length  arose  from  the  midst 
of  a  variety  which  looked  at  the  first  as  bewildering  and 
impracticable  as  the  intricacies  of  a  chaos.  How  came  it 
that,  by  the  toilsome  path  of  observation,  this  submissive 
scholar  arrived  at  a  system  more  beauteous,  and  noble,  and 
greatly  more  regaling  both  to  the  intellect  and  imagination 
of  man  than  did  any  of  his  ambitious  predecessors,  who 
devised  and  excogitated  at  pleasure.  The  reply  is  obvi- 
ous. Their  system  is  but  the  archetype  of  the  conceptions 
of  men,  his  the  archetype  of  the  conceptions  of  God.  The 
one  is  an  ideal  of  the  human  mind  evolved  by  speculation 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  379 

into  a  philosophic  theory,  the  other  is  the  primitive  idea  of 
the  divine  mind  evolved  by  creative  power  into  a  living 
and  substantive  reality.  The  difference  here  is  between 
the  finite  and  the  infinite — between  what  God  has  made 
and  what  man  would  have  made — between  the  forms  of 
excellence  and  beauty  devised  by  the  creature,  and  which 
he  has  excogitated  into  a  work  of  his  own  fancy,  and  those 
surpassing  forms  of  excellence  and  beauty  which  God  has 
matured  into  the  work  of  His  own  hands.  And  the  same 
difference  which  has  been  realized  in  science,  when  man 
gave  up  his  lofty  imaginations,  and  betook  himself  to  ob- 
serve and  study  the  actual  creation,  will  be  realized  in  the- 
ology, when  man,  dismissing  every  presumption  of  his  own, 
betakes  himself  to  the  study  of  the  actual  revelation.  The 
part  of  man  is  to  be  an  humble  interpreter  in  both  ;  and  a 
system  alike  comprehensive  and  sublime,  in  the  moral  as  in 
the  material  world,  will  be  the  result  of  his  labors.  In  each 
the  glory  that  is  discovered  greatly  overpasses  all  the 
glory  that  could  have  been  imagined — ^just  as  the  Planeta- 
rium of  Newton  exceeds  the  Planetarium  of  Des  Cartes  or 
Ptolemy.  When  Newton,  abjuring  all  the  brilliancies  of 
human  invention,  gave  himself  up  at  the  outset  of  his  labors 
to  the  drudgeries  of  a  patient  observer,  he  was  amply  re- 
warded at  the  termination  of  them  by  the  view  of  those 
glorious  symphonies  which  be  in  the  work  of  God.  In  the 
business  of  interpretation,  there  is  to  the  same  sacrifice  of 
all  antecedent  theory  a  nobler  reward  in  the  still  more 
exquisite  and  glorious  symphonies  of  the  word. 

23.  You  now  understand,  first,  the  use  of  hypothesis  as 
a  guide,  in  the  work  both  of  observation  in  science  and  of 
interpretation  in  Scripture ;  and  afterwards,  the  entire  sub- 
mission of  that  hypothesis  to  the  results,  whether  of  obser- 
vation in  the  one,  or  of  interpretation  in  the  other.  It  has 
been  asked,  whether,  as  in  the  instance  just  alleged,  when  a 
refractory  phenomenon  stands  in  the  way  of  a  general  law 
in  philosophy — whether,  should  a  refractory  text  stand  in 
the  way  of  what,  but  for  it,  might  have  been  announced  by 
the  unanimous  consent  of  all  Scripture  as  a  general  doc- 


380  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

trine  in  theology,  our  faith  in  that  doctrine  should  be  mean- 
while held  in  abeyance  ?  In  the  treatment  of  this  question 
a  distinction  which  has  been  already  made  must  again  be 
adverted  to.  A  general  law  in  science  is  gathered  from 
the  contemplation  of  like  phenomena ;  and  it  is  by  the  very 
expression  of  this  likeness  that  the  law  is  announced  to  us: 
A  general  doctrine  in  theology  rests,  no  doubt,  on  the  con- 
current authority  of  a  number  of  like  texts ;  but  each  of 
these  texts  may  in  itself,  either  directly  or  by  implication, 
afford  a  full  evidence  and  give  full  expression  to  the  doc- 
trine in  question.  It  is  not  with  the  phenomena  of  nature 
as  it  is  with  the  proof-passages  of  Scripture.  One  unlike 
phenomenon  does  not  contradict  another.  One  unlike  text 
may ;  and  a  decisive  example  of  such  a  contradiction 
would  create  a  painful  embarrassment  in  our  minds  on  the 
consistency  and  authority  of  the  record.  Whenever  the 
semblance,  then,  of  a  contradiction  should  occur,  Scripture 
criticism,  both  emendatory  and  interpretative,  should  be 
called  in  to  ascertain,  first,  the  state  of  the  readings,  and 
then  the  sense  of  the  reading.  It  forms  one  of  the  most 
glorious  securities  of  our  faith,  that  in  proportion  as  these 
labors  are  extended,  these  difficulties  vanish ;  or  if  yet  they 
have  not  wholly  disappeared,  may,  at  least  in  all  that  is 
important,  be  satisfactorily  disposed  of  by  the  following 
canons,  held  to  be  of  undoubted  authority,  by  the  greatest 
masters  and  judges  of  sound  interpretation : — "  No  doc- 
trine oan  belong  to  the  analogy  of  faith  which  is  founded 
on  a  single  text,  for  every  essential  principle  of  religion  is 
found  in  more  than  one  place." — "  The  analogy  of  faith 
ought  to  be  collected  from,  or  the  tenor  of  Scripture  ascer- 
tained by,  such  passages  as  are  plain  and  clear  and  express- 
ed in  proper  terms,  not  from  such  as  are  doubtful,  obscure, 
ambiguous,  or  figurative,  which  ought  to  be  explained  by 
these  others." — "  In  framing  the  analogy  of  faith,  all  the 
plain  texts  relating  to  one  article  or  subject  ought  to  be 
taken  together,  impartially  compared,  the  expressions  of 
one  of  them  restricted  by  those  of  another,  and  explained 
in  mutual   consistency;    and   that   article  deduced   from 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  381 

them    all  in   conjunction." — Gerard's   Institutes,   pp.    160, 
161. 

24.  But  before  I  am  done  with  the  analogy  between  the 
methods  of  theology  and  general  science,  let  me  present 
you  with  the  following  extract  from  Playfair's  Illustrations 
of  the  Huttonian  Theory — a  book  of  great  eloquence,  and 
replete  with  sound  observations  on  the  right  method  of 
philosophizing,  though,  perhaps,  like  some  of  the  works  of 
Bacon,  not  in  itself  the  happiest  exemplification  of  it.  In 
what  he  says  of  theory  and  observation  you  will  not  fail  to 
discern  the  respective  functions  of  systematic  theology  and 
Scripture  criticism,  with  their  influences  on  each  other. 
"  The  truth  indeed  is,  that,  in  physical  inquiries,  the  work 
of  theory  and  observation  must  go  hand  in  hand,  and  ought 
to  be  carried  on  at  the  same  time,  more  especially  if  the 
matter  is  very  complicated — for  then  the  clew  of  theory  is 
necessary  to  direct  the  observer.  Though  a  man  may 
begin  to  observe  without  any  hypothesis,  he  cannot  con- 
tinue long  without  seeing  some  general  conclusion  arise,  and 
to  this  nascent  theory  it  is  his  business  to  attend,  because, 
by  seeking  either  to  verify  or  to  disprove  it,  he  is  led  to 
new  experiments  or  new  observations.  He  is  led  also  to 
the  very  experiments  and  observations  that  are  of  the 
greatest  importance,  namely,  to  those  instantice  crusis, 
which  are  the  criteria  that  naturally  present  themselves 
for  the  trial  of  every  hypothesis.  He  is  conducted  to  the 
places  where  the  transitions  of  nature  are  most  percepti- 
ble, and  where  the  absence  of  former,  or  the  presence  of 
new  circumstances,  excludes  the  action  of  imaginary 
causes.  By  this  correction  of  his  first  opinion,  a  new  ap- 
proximation is  made  to  the  truth  ;  and  by  the  repetition  of 
the  same  process,  certainty  is  finally  obtained.  Thus  the- 
ory and  observation  mutually  assist  one  another ;  and  the 
spirit  of  system,  against  which  there  are  so  many  and  such 
just  complaints,  appears  nevertheless,  as  the  animating 
principle  of  inductive  investigation.  The  business  of  sound 
philosophy  is  not  to  extinguish  this  spirit,  but  to  restrain 
and  direct  its  efforts."     It  is  this  use  of  hypothesis  which 


382  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

led  Mr.  Playfair  to  qualify  the  following  sentence  of  Berg- 
man : — "  Observationes  veras  quam  ingeniosissimas  fictiones 
sequi  prsestat ;  naturae  mysteria  potius  indagare  quam  divi- 
nare."  "  Such  an  opposition."  says  Mr.  Playfair,  "  be- 
tween the  business  of  the  theorist  and  the  observer,  can 
only  occur  when  the  speculations  of  the  former  are  vague 
and  indistinct,  and  cannot  be  so  embodied  as  to  become  vis- 
ible to  the  latter."  Finally,  "  The  want  of  theory  does  not 
secure  the  candor  of  an  observer,  and  it  may  very  much 
diminish  his  skill." 

25.  From  what  has  been  said  on  the  whole  of  system- 
atic theology  and  Scripture  criticism,  you  will  be  at  no  loss 
to  perceive  how  it  is  that  in  a  common  translation  all  the 
materials  of  the  system  are  to  be  found  ;  and  that  there- 
fore the  lessons  of  systematic  theology  he  within  the  reach 
of  an  ordinary  peasant.  We  do  not  say  that  he  is  in  cir- 
cumstances to  defend  them,  if  controverted ;  but  he  is  in 
circumstances  to  acquire  them.  It  is  just  because  the  corrr- 
ponent  parts  of  a  system,  instead  of  being  to  be  found  in 
isolated  passages,  lie  scattered  over  the  whole  record,  and 
are  of  frequent  occurrence,  that  the  translation  of  the 
places  which  contain  them  is,  generally  speaking,  far  more 
correct  than  of  those  other  places  where  the  topic,  by  its 
very  insignificance,  is  not  admitted  among  the  dogmata  of 
a  system  or  the  articles  of  a  creed.  The  system,  in  fact, 
is  gathered,  not  out  of  the  obscurer,  but  out  of  the  clearer 
passages  of  Scripture  ;  and  hence  it  is,  that  though  un- 
taught in  its  original  languages,  there  are  thousands  of 
humble  Christians,  who  can  discern  throughout  the  Bible  a 
reigning  evidence  for  the  orthodoxy  which  they  have 
learned  in  compends  and  catechisms.  They  have  to  take 
upon  trust  the  individual  sayings  of  the  Bible  ;  but  they  do 
not  need  to  take  upon  trust  the  theology  which  arises  out 
of  them.  This  explains  the  phenomenon  of  so  many  sound 
and  really  sagacious  theologians  in  common  Hfe,  with  a 
theology,  too,  not  of  implicit  faith,  but  a  theology  of  well 
exercised  intellect.  It  is  true  they  cannot  carry  an  appeal 
from  the  version  to  the  original ;  but  if  there  be  truth  in 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  383 

our  principle,  in  all  that  is  most  important  and  most  enti- 
tled to  a  place  in  the  system,  the  version  and  the  original 
are  surest  to  be  at  one.  In  their  reasonings  they  may  be 
said  to  take  their  departure  from  a  lower  point  than  do  the 
learned  ;  but  it  is  a  point  which  has  been  rightly  fixed,  if 
not  by  themselves,  yet  by  others  for  them,  and  so  they 
come  to  the  right  place  of  arrival  at  last.  The  assertions 
of  Michaelis  and  others,  in  regard  to  a  profound  acquaint- 
ance both  with  the  original  and  their  cognate  languages,  as 
an  indispensable  pre-requisite  to  a  sound  systematic  the- 
ology, would  need  to  be  greatly  qualified — or  rather,  I 
would  say,  are  fundamentally  erroneous.  It  is  just  saying 
that  a  museum,  though  replenished  with  specimens  of  all 
the  genera  and  all  the  species,  does  not  contain  materials 
sufficient  for  the  system  of  natural  history,  because  many 
of  the  singularities  of  nature,  or  lusus  naturcB,  are  not  to 
be  found  in  it.  The  services  of  a  profound  and  accom- 
plished linguist  may  be  required  for  overtaking  the  curious 
and  else  inaccessible  rarities  of  Scripture  ;  but  long  ere  a 
philology  so  arduous  as  his  must  be  called  for,  all  the  im- 
portant generalities  of  Scripture  may,  by  dint  of  a  less 
subtle  philology,  have  been  completely  appropriated.  It 
is  under  the  guidance  of  the  latter,  in  fact,  and  not  of  the 
former,  that  most  of  the  popular  versions  in  Christendom 
have  been  executed  ;  and  we  again  repeat,  that,  by  their 
means,  all  the  weightiest  and  most  substantial  lessons  of 
the  Bible  have  been  brought  within  the  reach  of  the  popu- 
lar understanding.  We  mean  not  lessons  for  practical 
guidance  alone  ;  but  those  lessons  which  serve  as  materials 
for  the  formation  of  a  just  and  comprehensive  theory  in 
religion.  We  greatly  mistake  the  native  capacities  of  the 
human  spirit,  if  we  think  not  that  in  the  heart  of  an  unlet- 
tered workman  there  may  exist  both  a  perception  of  the 
truth  and  greatness  of  such  a  theory,  and  a  relish  for  all 
its  harmonies  ;  nor  does  it  seem  inexplicable  to  us,  and  on 
the  principles  of  a  strict  philosophical  estimate,  that  many 
a  ploughman  in  Scotland  is  a  better  theologian  than  many 
a  critic  and  philologist  in  Germany. 


384  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

26.  I  fear  that  I  may  have  expatiated  at  a  length  which 
some  of  you  may  have  felt  to  be  excessive  and  intolerable, 
on  the  respective  functions  of  Scripture  criticism  and  the 
systematic  theology.  You  must  now,  I  think,  perceive  the 
distinction  which  there  is  between  them ;  and  how,  while 
it  is  the  office  of  the  one  to  fix  both  the  state  and  meaning 
of  every  sentence  in  the  record  of  inspiration,  it  is  the 
office  of  the  other  to  sit  in  judgment  over  the  whole  sub- 
ject-matter of  the  record,  and  to  gather  from  it  both  its 
important  truths  and  the  relations  in  which  they  stand  to 
each  other.  It  is  not  to  palliate  any  kind  of  ignorance,  but 
to  render  accurately  what  the  truth  is  upon  this  subject, 
when  I  affirm  it  to  be  a  mistake  that  one  unskilled  in  Scrip- 
ture criticism  must  on  that  account  be  proportionally  un- 
skilled in  systematic  theology.  In  the  first  place,  one, 
without  entering  very  far  into  the  depths  of  criticism,  might 
master  the  acquisition  of  all  truths  which  are  important 
enough  for  being  admitted  into  the  system  ;  and,  in  the 
second  place,  he  could,  in  the  exercise  of  his  distinct  voca- 
tion as  a  systematic  theologian,  proceed,  with  a  perfectly 
wise  and  warrantable  confidence  upon  the  results,  which, 
whether  in  the  discovery  of  what  is  minute  or  the  defense 
of  what  is  momentous,  the  profound  criticism  of  others  has 
put  into  his  hands.  The  services  are  not  the  same,  nor  yet 
are  the  powers  for  the  execution  of  the  services.  One  able 
and  accomplished  to  the  extreme  in  theology,  may  be  defi- 
cient in  the  grasp  and  generalization  which  are  essential  to 
the  construction  of  a  system  that  shall  blend  into  one  har- 
monious whole  the  objective  revelation  of  heaven  with  the 
subjective  human  nature  upon  earth  to  which  it  is  address- 
ed ;  and  this  has  been  too  well  exemplified  by  the  licentious 
speculatists  in  Germany.  On  the  other  hand,  one  may,  in 
virtue  of  those  comprehensive  and  philosophic  faculties 
which  signalize  him  above  other  men,  be  laboring  in  his 
most  appropriate  employment  when  building  up  a  science 
or  a  system  out  of  such  materials  as  are  but  the  results 
of  Scripture  criticism — even  though  they  are  results 
which  he  has  assumed  on  the  faith  of  other  labors  than  his 


SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY.  385 

own,  because  not  at  leisure  and  perhaps  even  not  able  to 
work  them  out  himself.  The  two  vocations  are  as  distinct 
as  are  those  of  the  observationist  and  the  philosopher  in 
science ;  and  it  is  really  not  the  way  to  advance  the  inter- 
ests of  theology — it  is  the  way  rather  to  bereave  it  of  the 
advantage  which  all  other  learning  derives  from  the  divi- 
sion of  employment,  thus  to  blend  and  confound  together 
such  walks  of  intellect  as  are  best  prosecuted  apart,  by 
men  who  .realize  in  each  such  appropriate  tastes  and  talents 
as,  in  the  wise  distribution  of  nature,  are  generally  found  in 
their  highest  excellence  when  separated  from  each  other. 
There  is  one  immediate  good  that  would  result  from  an 
enlightened  view  of  this  subject.  It  would  disarm  of  their 
mischievous  authority  the  men  who,  on  the  strength  of 
their  intimacy  with  letters,  and  characters,  and  vocables, 
and  the  various  points  of  criticism  alone,  hold  themselves 
entitled  to  sport  any  doctrinal  fancy  that  some  meager 
analogy  with  some  of  the  rare  and  recondite  instances  of 
expression,  whether  in  the  original  or  cognate  languages, 
might  seem  to  authorize.  My  chief  reason  for  desiderating 
the  very  highest  acquisitions  of  sacred  criticism  in  our 
Church  is,  that  we  may  always  have  defenders  at  hand 
able  to  overmatch  and  to  quell  this  wantonness,  and  to  ex- 
hibit how  slender  the  materials  are  which  go  to  sustain  the 
innovation  in  question,  when  compared  with  the  solidity 
and  superabundance  of  those  materials  on  which  there 
rests  the  established  orthodoxy  of  our  land.  Let  Scripture 
critics  be  met  on  their  own  ground,  and  combated  with 
their  own  peculiar  weapons ;  but  let  it  ever  be  remember- 
ed, that  theirs  is  a  vocation  altogether  distinct  from  that  of 
the  systematic  theologian.  On  this  subject  Michaelis  is 
inconsistent  with  himself — when  at  one  time  he  holds  forth 
a  profound  acquaintance,  not  with  Greek  and  Hebrew 
alone,  but  with  Chaldee,  and  Syriac,  and  Arabic,  and  the 
rabbinical  writings,  all  as  indispensable  to  the  formation  of 
a  sound  theologian  ;  and  at  another  time  says  of  Dr.  Whit- 
by, that  he  was  a  bad  critic  though  a  good  commentator. 
Now  we  do  not  inquire  into  the  justness  of  either  character- 

VOL.  VII. — R 


386  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

istic,  as  applied  to  Dr.  Whitby ;  but  most  assuredly  the  two 
are  not  incompatible.  One  may  be  unable  to  determine 
the  question  for  himself,  whether  the  sayings  wherewith  he 
is  presented  in  any  given  translation  do  accurately  repre- 
sent the  original  sayings  of  the  prophets,  and  apostles,  and 
evangelists  of  sacred  writ ;  and  yet  be  far  better  able  than 
he  who  can  determine  the  question,  for  the  intelligent  or 
the  scientific  treatment  of  the  sense  or  subject-matter  that 
has  thus  been  submitted  to  him.  And  if  a  bad  critic  may 
be  a  good  commentator,  it  is  equally  true  that  a  good  critic, 
in  the  philological  sense,  may  be  a  bad  commentator ;  and 
he  must  not  only  be  able  to  assign  the  meaning  of  a  sepa- 
rate text  on  grammatical  principles — he  must  be  able  to 
reassemble,  to  combine,  and  to  educe  out  of  many  texts 
the  common  truth  which  pervades  them,  and  its  place  or 
the  relation  to  other  truths  of  a  comprehensive  scheme,  ere 
he  can  realize  the  aphorism  that — "Bonus  textuarius  est 
bonus  theologus." 


SUBJECT-MATTER  OF   CHRISTIANITY. 


PART  I. 

ON  THE  DISEASE  FOR  WHICH  THE  GOSPEL 
REMEDY  IS  PROVIDED. 


CHAPTER   I. 

REASONS  WHY  MAN'S  STATE  OF  GUILT  AND  MORAL  DEPRAV- 

ATION  SHOULD  FORM  THE  INITIAL  DOCTRINE  OF  A  SYSTEM- 

.  ATIO  COURSE  ON  THE  SUBJECT-MATTER  OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

1.  We  now  pass  from  the  evidences  of  Christianity  to 
its  subject-matter — from  the  credentials  to  the  contents  of 
that  volume  which  is  the  record  of  its  various  revelations 
— from  the  question  of  who  the  letter  comes  from  ?  to  the 
question  of  what  the  letter  says  ? 

2.  The  doctrines  of  this  volume  are  presented  to  us  in  a 
miscellaneous  form.  Its  didactic,  its  narrative,  its  horta- 
tory, and  devotional  parts,  whether  in  whole  pieces  or  in 
occasional  passages,  are  laid  before  us  without  any  very 
obvious  principle  of  arrangement,  save  (and  that  not  al- 
ways) the  chronological  order  in  which  the  events  that  are 
described  did  occur,  or  in  which  the  several  compositions 
were  written.  This  being  the  case,  it  is  not  by  any  expo- 
sition, however  clear,  of  the  successive  portions  from  Gen- 
esis to  Revelation  that  we  shall  attain,  or  even  approximate, 
to  the  formation  of  a  theological  system,  any  more  than  we 
can  be  said  to  have  attained  to  the  science  or  sciences  of 
the  material  world  by  a  description,  in  the  order  of  their 
position,  of  the  individual  objects  which  lie  scattered  in  a 
way,  if  we  may  thus  speak,  so  capricious  and  incidental,  on 


388  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  panorama  of  visible  nature.  We  can  have  no  doubt 
that  there  is  a  design,  a  real  meaning,  though  deeper  than 
we  can  trace  it,  in  the  actual  order  and  distribution,  v^hether 
of  the  things  in  God's  world,  or  of  the  truths  in  God's  word  ; 
and  that  as  the  former  are  best  distributed  for  sustaining 
the  functions  and  enjoyments  of  the  natural  life  with  all  who 
dwell  on  the  face  of  our  earth,  and  who  compose  the  whole 
of  our  animal  generations,  so  the  latter  are  best  distributed 
for  sustaining  the  functions  and  enjoyments  of  the  spiritual 
life  with  all  who  aspire  from  earth  to  heaven,  and  who 
compose  the  devout  and  diligent  and  every-day  readers  of 
our  Bible.  Yet  as  this  in  the  one  case  does  not  supersede 
the  work  of  methodizing  the  phenomena  of  nature,  so  as  to 
frame  a  philosophy  out  of  them,  so  neither  in  the  other  does 
it  supersede  the  kindred  work  of  methodizing  the  sayings 
of  Scripture,  and  so  as  to  frame  a  science  or  system  of  the- 
ology. And,  accordingly,  this  latter  achievement  has  long 
been  the  task  and  endeavor  of  the  learned  in  divinity,  and 
that  from  a  very  early  age  in  the  history  of  our  Church. 
Perhaps  the  creeds  or  compends  of  doctrine  which  were 
formed  in  these  times,  though  consisting  of  but  a  few  arti- 
cles or  capita  jidei,  may  be  quoted  as  the  first  examples,  as 
the,  embryo  or  rudimental  attempts  at  the  formation  of  sys- 
tems which  were  afterwards  expanded  into  the  fuller  and 
more  orderly  digests  of  our  modern  day. 

3.  In  the  work  of  systematizing  the  truths  and  doctrines 
of  this  volume,  the  first  that  we  select  from  amongst  them  is 
that  of  man's  moral  depravity.  We  hold  this  to  be  the  best 
and  fittest  object  for  your  primary  consideration,  and  that 
for  the  three  following  reasons. 

4.  First,  Christianity  is  a  remedial  or  restorative  system. 
Its  Author  came  into  our  world  to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  is  lost.  The  great  design  of  His  enterprise  is  to  re- 
cover our  species  from  the  moral  disease  under  which  they 
labor ;  and  it  seems  natural  in  the  study  of  such  a  process 
that  we  should  take  a  view  of  the  disease,  ere  we  attend  to 
the  properties  or  the  power  of  that  remedy  which  has  been 
provided  for  it.  In  point  of  experience,  we  shall  find  that 
a  previous  acquaintance  with  the  one  will  lead  the  way  to 


THE  DISEASE.  38D 


a  better  and  fuller  acquaintance  with  the  other.  In  partic- 
ular, if  there  be  any  complication  in  the  disease,  if  it  con- 
sist of  several  parts,  as  we  shall  soon  see  that  it  actually 
does,  by  our  previous  knowledge  of  the  parts,  we  shall 
learn  all  the  more  quickly  and  correctly  the  counterparts 
to  these  in  the  remedial  application  of  the  gospel.  The 
adaptation  of  the  one  to  the  other — of  the  objective  to  the 
subjective,  will  elicit  an  evidence,  perhaps  the  most  influ- 
ential of  all  for  the  truth  of  Christianity.  What  we  propose 
is,  that  your  first  study  shall  be  of  the  subjective — after 
which,  you  will  be  in  better  circumstances  for  understand- 
ing the  nature  of  the  objective  that  has  been  applied  and  is 
altogether  suited  to  it. 

5.  Secondly,  There  is  another  reason  for  the  priority 
which  we  now  advocate.  The  subjective  is  near  at  hand  : 
it  lies  within  the  domain  of  our  own  immediate  conscious- 
ness. If  the  depravity  of  our  nature  be  a  doctrine  of  the 
Bible,  it  is  also  a  doctrine  of  which  we  can  take  cognizance 
by  a  direct  and  independent  observation  of  our  own.  It  is 
a  truth  shown  upon  by  the  conjunct  lights  of  nature  and 
revelation  ;  and  it  seems  fit,  in  passing  from  the  study  of 
the  natural  to  that  of  the  Christian  theology,  that  we  should 
begin  with  those  parts  of  the  latter  in  which  we  are  not  yet 
altogether  abandoned  by  that  light  which  formed  our  only 
guidance  in  the  study  of  the  former.  It  is  like  making  our 
study  of  the  terrestrial  take  precedency  of  that  which  is 
celestial.  The  one  is  within  our  reach.  The  other  may 
lie  partly  too  within  the  limits  of  our  more  dim  and  distant 
vision,  as  is  evinced  by  the  discoveries  or  even  the  guesses, 
which  in  the  exercise  of  our  own  unaided  faculties  we  are 
enabled  to  make,  both  of  the  being  and  character  of  God. 
But  beyond  these,  apart  from  revelation,  seen  hazily  and 
imperfectly  at  the  best,  there  lie  other  truths  which  had  to 
be  fetched  from  afar,  far  beyond  the  ken  of  human  eye,  or 
even  the  conjectures  of  human  wisdom  ;  and  for  the  knowl- 
edge, nay,  for  the  very  conception  of  which,  we  are  indebt- 
ed to  revelation.  And  we  again  repeat,  it  seems  in  every 
way  better  that  we  should  not  begin  with  these  remote  and 
inaccessible  themes ;  inaccessible,  we  mean,  till  revelation 


390  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

had  opened  up  for  us  a  way  to  them :  but  that  we  should 
keep  by  the  light  of  nature  as  far  as  that  light  will  carry 
us,  even  though  it  should  accompany  us  a  certain  way 
within  the  domain  of  Scriptural  truth,  and  bring  us  into 
converse  with  certain  doctrines  in  favor  of  which  both 
Scripture  and  observation  give  their  respective  testimonies. 
6.  And  to  explain  more  particularly  how  it  is  that  nature 
can  see  with  its  own  eyes  what  the  Bible  tells  respecting 
the  guilt  and  depravity  of  man,  it  is  conceivable,  speaking 
generally,  that  some  of  the  statements  in  this  book  might 
relate  to  matters  whereof  man  had  an  antecedent  and  sepa- 
rate knowledge  of  his  own;  and  if  this  could  anywhere  be 
looked  for,  it  would  be  in  those  averments  which  the  Bible 
makes  of  the  human  state  and  the  human  character.  For, 
first,  man  has,  anterior  to  revelation,  a  certain  knowledge 
of  the  quid  oportet.  He  has  the  sense,  and  to  a  great  ex- 
tent the  just  perception,  of  what  he  ought  and  what  he 
ought  not  to  be  or  to  do — in  other  words,  he  feels  and  is 
aware  of  the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong.  So 
that  even  though  he  had  but  the  conjectural  or  dimly  prob- 
able notion  of  a  Creator — still,  in  virtue  of  his  moral  nature 
alone,  and  without  being  told  of  it  in  a  message  from  heaven, 
he  can  feel  what  is  due  to  a  hypothetical  God — a  feeling 
which  has  in  it  more  or  less  of  a  practical  reality,  in  pro- 
portion as  this  impression  of  a  Deity  approaches  to  cer- 
tainty or  conviction.  And  then,  apart  from  revelation,  no 
one  will  question  that  man  has  a  large  and  independent 
knowledge  of  the  quid  est ;  and  surely  this  knowledge  will 
not  altogether  fail  him  when  it  relates  to  a  matter  so  near 
at  hand  as  his  own  felt  and  familiar  nature,  or  to  the  mat- 
ters which  lie  within  the  homestead  of  his  own  conscious- 
ness. We  have  already  seen  that  he  has  some,  we  think  a 
very  considerable,  knowledge  of  what  he  owes  to  God. 
This  belongs  to  the  category  of  the  quid  oportet.  And  has 
he  not  also  a  like  knowledge  of  the  question,  whether  what 
he  thus  owes  to  God  be  or  be  not  actually  rendered  by  man, 
and  in  particular  by  himself?  This  belongs  to  the  category 
of  the  quid  est.  Of  the  one  question  it  is  his  conscience 
which  informs  him.     Of  the  other  question,  it  is  his  con- 


THE  DISEASE.  391 


sciousness  which  informs  him ;  and,  by  dint  of  these  facul- 
ties alone,  he  can  tell  whether  or  not  it  be  true — that,  fall- 
ing short  of  duty  to  the  God  who  made  and  who  upholds 
him,  he  is  the  guilty  and  the  depraved  creature  which  the 
Bible  represents  him.  It  is  thus  that  the  findings  of  expe- 
rience and  the  informations  of  Scripture  might  be  felt  to 
coalesce  ;  and  another  most  precious  and  powerful  evidence 
is  elicited  from  the  harmony  between  them.  There  is  many 
a  peasant  whose  faith  rests  on  as  firm  and  legitimate  a  found- 
ation as  that  of  the  most  erudite  theologian — although  with 
no  other  stepping-stone  for  the  belief  at  which  he  has  ar- 
rived than  his  simple  discernment  of  the  accordancy  which 
subsists  between  what  the  Bible  tells  him  he  is,  and  what 
he  finds  himself  to  be. 

7.  Our  third  reason  is,  that  the  topic  which  we  now  rec- 
ommend for  the  commencement  of  your  theological  studies, 
is  generally  the  very  topic  which  first  awakens  and  engages 
the  attention  of  the  inquirer  at  the  commencement  of  his 
religious  earnestness.  We  do  not  want  to  abandon  the 
scientific  treatment  of  our  subject;  but  we  shall  ever  hold 
it  to  be  fortunate,  and  a  thing  not  to  be  pedantically  de- 
spised, but  to  the  uttermost  valued  and  rejoiced  in,  when- 
ever the  scientific  is  at  one  with  the  popular — or  when  the 
systematic,  as  taught  in  universities,  quadrates  with  the 
practical,  as  realized  in  congregations  and  parishes.  The 
quid  oportet  and  the  quid  est,  however  scholastically  ex- 
pressed by  us,  are  both  of  them  present  and  most  power- 
fully operative  in  many  an  unlettered  mind,  w^hich,  con- 
vinced of  sin,  is  seeking  the  way  after  salvation.  It  is  the 
conviction  which  gives  an  impulse  to  the  search,  and  forms 
what  may  be  termed  the  initial  force  which  is  brought  to 
bear,  and  which  first  tells  on  the  lethargy  of  nature.  It  is 
the  originating  and  motive  power  which  operates  at  the 
starting-place  or  point  of  departure,  when  transition  is  made 
out  of  darkness  to  the  marvelous  light  of  the  gospel.  The 
minister  does  not  speak  of  the  quid  oportet  nominally,  but 
he  speaks  to  them  of  it  substantially,  when  he  preaches  the 
law  ;  and  the  law  we  know  on  the  highest  authority,  is  the 
schoolmaster  for  bringing  men  to  Christ.     Neither  does  he 


332  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

speak  to  them  of  the  quid  est  nominally,  but  of  it  also  he 
speaks  to  them  substantially,  when  he  convinces  of  sin ;  or 
holds  up  to  their  own  consciousness  the  glaring  deficiencies 
of  their  heart  and  life,  from  what  their  own  conscience  can 
tell  is  the  rule  of  duty,  or  of  that  obedience  which  they  owe 
to  the  rightful  Sovereign  who,  as  the  Maker,  is  also  the 
Lord  of  all  things.  We  egregiously  mistake  the  capacities 
and  apprehensions  of  the  common  people — if  we  think  not 
that  a  sense  of  duty,  and  a  sense  of  the  judgment  conse- 
quent upon  its  violations,  and  a  sense  of  their  own  sinful- 
ness, involving  both  the  feeling  of  guilt  and  the  fear  of  dan- 
ger— if  we  think  not  of  these  moral  elements  that  they  are 
at  work  and  astir  in  the  breasts  of  the  rudest  of  nature's 
children.  The  plainest  of  all  preachers  might  awaken  them 
with  powerful  and  most  wholesome  effect  in  the  plainest  of 
all  congregations — and  this  not  in  the  form  of  a  mere  sen- 
sitive impression,  but  of  a  rational  and  well-founded  belief, 
having  all  that  evidence  to  rest  upon  which  lies  in  the 
adaptation  between  the  truth  spoken  to  them  from  without, 
and  the  testimony  of  their  own  responding  consciences  from 
within.  If  men  will  not  seek  after  a  Saviour  till  awakened 
by  the  thought  both  of  a  present  condemnation  and  a  com- 
ing vengeance — then  it  becomes,  not  the  essential  only,  but 
the  primary  business  of  their  religious  instructor  thus  to 
awaken  them ;  and  we  repeat,  that  with  ourselves  it  is  a 
matter  of  gratulation  that  the  rudimental  lesson  in  the  school 
of  conscience  should  be  also  the  rudimental  lesson  in  the 
class-room,  or  school  of  philosophy. 

8.  And  let  me  here  take  the  opportunity  of  saying,  that 
I  am  on  the  whole  favorable  to  a  course  of  sermons  from 
the  pulpit,  though  with  frequent  intermissions  of  the  urgent, 
and  the  practical,  and  the  consolatory — whether  to  cheer 
the  dejected  by  the  assurances  of  the  gospel,  or  to  admon- 
ish the  converts  of  their  various  duties,  or  to  arouse  the 
worldly  and  the  careless  from  their  spiritual  slumbers.  On 
these  general  accounts  I  would  not  have  the  pulpit  course 
to  be  so  rigidly  systematic  as  the  university  course  is  or 
ought  to  be ;  and  there  is  one  signal  exception  by  which  at 
all  times  the  one  ought  to  be  distinguished  from  the  other. 


THE  DISEASE.  393 


I  am  unwilling  that  any  sermon  should  be  preached  with- 
out a  free  and  full  tender  of  salvation,  through  the  blood  of 
Christ,  to  all  who  will.  It  might  be  an  inversion  of  the 
right  and  natural  order,  for  me  to  expound  the  nature  of 
the  remedy,  before  I  had  finished  my  lectureship  of  many 
weeks  on  the  nature  of  the  disease.  But  it  is  never  prema- 
ture or  unseasonable,  nor  can  it  be  charged  upon  you  as  a 
wrong  anticipation,  should  you  seize  on  every  opportunity, 
and  rather  create  an  opportunity  than  want  one,  for  laying 
before  your  people  the  overtures  of  reconciliation  from  God 
to  a  guilty  world.  These  from  the  very  outset  should  hold 
a  prominent  place  in  your  ministrations  ;  for  recollect  that 
you  may  have  hearers  in  all  the  stages  and  varieties  of 
progress,  and  some,  in  particular,  already  convinced  of  sin, 
and  in  full  readiness  to  be  told  of  the  Saviour.  And  recol- 
lect also,  that  however  generally  the  inquirer  is  first  exer- 
cised by  the  terrors  of  the  law,  and  then  shut  up  by  these 
to  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  this  process  is  far  from  being  in- 
variable ;  and  that  while  some  need  to  be  driven  into  the 
place  of  refuge  by  the  threats  of  a  coming  vengeance,  oth- 
ers are  more  effectually  drawn  to  it  by  the  exhibition  of  a 
Saviour's  love,  and  the  winning  tenderness  of  a  Saviour's 
invitations.  The  way  of  the  Spirit  in  conducting  an  in- 
quirer from  darkness  to  marvelous  light  is  exceedingly  va- 
rious ;  and  there  is  a  corresponding  variety  in  the  history 
of  conversions,  and  in  the  whole  religious  experience  of 
men.  Jude  seems  to  advert  to  this,  when  he  speaks  of  sav- 
ing some  with  fear — pulling  them  out  of  the  fire  ;  and  of 
saving  some  with  compassion — making  a  difference.  At 
all  events,  let  the  great  gospel  offer  be  declared,  if  possible, 
in  every  sermon,  and  pressed  on  the  acceptance  of  all  who 
hear  it.  It  were  unpardonable,  if,  by  an  adherance  to  the 
rigorously  systematic  in  the  pulpit,  and  the  exclusion  of  all 
that  was  ulterior,  you  were  to  find  no  place,  whole  Sabbaths 
together,  for  that  great  topic,  compared  with  which  Paul 
was  determined  to  know  nothing  else — even  Jesus  Christ 
and  Him  crucified. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ON  THE  MORAL  STATE  OF  MAN  AS  FOUND  BY  OBSERVATION. 

1.  We  have  already  said  that  the  character  of  man  is  a 
thing  so  far  cognizable  by  the  light  of  nature,  or  by  man's 
own  discernment  of  himself;  and  if,  over  and  above  this, 
Scripture  have  pronounced  upon  it,  then  v^e  have  both  the 
light  of  nature  and  the  light  of  revelation  shining,  as  it  w^ere, 
upon  the  same  subject.  Our  object  is  to  ascertain  the  na- 
ture and  extent  of  the  testimonies  respectively  given  by 
each — taking  first  a  separate  account  of  them — after  which 
we  can  better  judge  of  the  harmony  between  them.  It  will 
then  be  seen  that  at  least  one  great  and  fundamental  arti- 
cle of  the  Christian  faith  is  established,  not  by  a  single  wit- 
ness only,  but  at  the  mouth  of  two  great  witnesses — first, 
the  Bible  which  cometh  from  God  ;  secondly,  the  conscience 
of  man  responding  thereunto. 

2.  We  begin  with  the  examination  of  the  latter  of  these 
two  witnesses.  We  need  not  repeat  that  in  virtue  of  his 
moral  nature,  and  the  faculties  which  belong  to  it,  man  has 
a  certain  sense  of  right  and  wrong  ;  and  that  in  virtue  of 
his  observational  faculties,  he  can  tell  both  of  his  own  con- 
duct and  that  of  his  fellows,  whether  it  be  conformable  to 
the  one,  or  chargeable  with  the  other.  To  express  it  differ- 
ently, he  knows  to  a  great  extent  the  rule  of  righteousness  ; 
and  he  can  perceive  of  the  deeds  of  man,  or  of  the  disposi- 
tions which  give  rise  to  them,  whether  they  quadrate  with 
or  deviate  therefrom.  He  possesses  a  measuring  line,  by 
the  application  of  which  he  can  observe  the  straightnesses 
of  human  conduct,  and  which  he  refers  to  virtues  in  the 
human  character  ;  and  by  which  also  he  can  observe  the 
unevennesses  of  human  conduct,  which  he  in  like  manner 
refers  to  vices  in  the  human  character.  There  is  enough 
of  natural  furniture  and  apparatus  in  the  mind  of  man  for 


THE  DISEASE.  395 


the  discernment  of  these  things  ;  and  accordingly,  antece- 
dent to  or  apart  from  revelation,  such  terms  as  duty  and 
sin.  lawful  and  unlawful,  moral  good  and  moral  evil,  worth, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  wickedness,  on  the  other,  have  been 
familiar  as  household  words,  in  the  languages  of  all  coun- 
tries and  among  the  men  of  all  ages,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world. 

3.  We  are  aware  that  before  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  still  beyond  the  limits  of  Christendom,  the  true 
God,  who  possesses  a  rightful  claim  on  the  obedience  of  all 
His  creatures,  is  to  a  great  degree  misconceived  or  un- 
known. But  besides  the  moralities  which  belong  to  the 
relation  between  God  and  man,  there  are  moralities  which 
subsist  between  man  and  man  in  society,  and  respecting 
which  they  may  either  accuse  or  else  excuse  one  another. 
The  question  in  how  far  these  are  either  observed  or  vio- 
lated, is  altogether  pertinent  to  our  present  theme  ;  and  the 
right  determination  of  it  should  help  at  least  to  a  right  esti- 
mate of  the  moral  state  of  our  species.  And  it  does  speak 
for  a  grievous  and  wide  corruption,  that  on  the  general 
aspect  of  our  world  there  should  be  so  visible,  so  glaring  a 
deformity — insomuch  that  the  history  of  the  great  family 
of  man  is  little  better  than  a  history  of  human  perversities 
and  human  crimes.  But  this  is  looking  vaguely  and  dis- 
tantly on  the  object  of  our  contemplation.  We  should  ex- 
amine it  in  detail.  We  should  look  to  our  own  familiar 
neighborhoods,  and  to  individual  acquaintances,  and,  above 
all,  to  ourselves — whether  retrospectively  to  our  past  do- 
ings, or  inwardly  on  our  present  habits,  and  dispositions, 
and  purposes — on  all  or  whichever  of  these  fields  of  obser- 
vation, v/e  shall  not  be  long  of  gathering  evidence  for  the 
sinfulness  of  humanity.  It  glares  upon  us  not  only  in  those 
enormities  which  call  down  upon  them  the  vengeance  of 
human  law,  but  in  a  thousand  overt  acts  besides,  which 
though  not  treated  as  crimes  in  society,  are  not  the  less  on 
that  account  palpable  transgressions  of  the  divine  law — 
and  this  not  merely  as  expounded  and  set  forth  in  the  Bible. 
but  as  interpreted  by  the  law  of  our  own  consciences. 


396  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

We  Stand  in  no  need  therefore  of  making  our  appeal  to 
the  thefts,  and  the  murders,  and  the  other  deeds  of  vio- 
lence which  are  punishable  by  the  State,  or  to  the  wars, 
and  the  wholesale  butcheries,  and  the  ruthless  desolations, 
by  which,  in  the  great  scale  of  history,  the  lives  and  the 
happiness  of  millions  are  sacrificed  to  the  lust  of  power. 
We  have  but  to  look  at  the  fraudulencies  and  the  conven- 
ient disguises,  and  the  competitions  of  selfishness,  stimulated 
by  the  appetency  for  gain,  and  which  are  currently  prac- 
tised in  the  walks  of  merchandise.  Or  we  may  take  our 
stand  in  the  midst  of  the  convivial  party,  or  family  circle, 
and  there  take  account  of  the  slanders  and  the  jealousies 
and  the  paltry  struggles  of  vanity  for  its  own  pre-eminence  ; 
and  often  the  caprices,  even  cruelties,  of  the  household  ty- 
rant, whose  fierce  looks  and  invectives  strike  terror  into 
the  hearts  of  those  whom  it  is  his  duty  to  cherish  with  his 
smiles — to  gladden  by  all  the  possible  acts  and  amenities 
of  kindness.  Or,  finally,  to  shift  the  contemplation  from 
others  to  ourselves,  let  each  cast  his  eye  homewards,  either" 
to  the  secret  places  of  his  past  history,  or  to  those  recesses 
of  the  inner  man  which  are  unknown  to  all  but  himself,  and 
then  let  him  say  whether  he  can  look  over  the  whole  of  this 
perspective  with  an  unabashed  sense  of  rectitude — because 
there  no  taint  of  evil,  no  one  vestige  of  moral  defect  or 
deformity,  is  to  be  found.  We  feel  confident,  that  from 
one  extremity  of  our  earth  to  another,  or  from  the  first  cre- 
ation of  man  to  the  present  age,  no  such  individual,  though 
the  purest  and  most  perfect  of  his  kind,  can  possibly  be 
fixed  upon;  or,  in  other  words,  that  all  have  sinned — all 
have  come  short  of  entire  and  absolute  virtue.  At  least,  if 
we  have  not  yet  got  enough  of  evidence  for  the  total  and 
universal  depravation  of  our  species,  there  is  surely  evi- 
dence enough  against  a  total  and  universal  rectitude. 
Should  there  be  a  planet  rolling  in  space,  a  world  any- 
where, into  which  evil  hath  made  no  inroad,  and  where  all 
stand  alike  exempted  from  remorse  and  shame,  because 
the  morality  of  all  and  of  each  is  faultless  and  without  a 
stain,  we  shall   be  spared  the  burden  of  any  further  de- 


THE  DISEASE.  397 


monstration,  when  we  simply  affirm  that  this  is  not  that 
world. 

4.  But  there  are  certain  stern  theologians  who  speak  of 
this  degeneracy — not  only  as  universal,  that  is,  extending 
to  one  and  all  of  the  human  family,  but  as  total  or  com- 
plete, insomuch  that  not  one  virtue  or  grace  of  character 
is  to  be  found  among  the  sons  and  daughters  of  our  race, 
which  is  worthy  of  the  name.  Now,  as  at  present  we  are 
in  quest  only  of  what  is  experimentally  true  upon  this  ar- 
gument, we  are  bound  to  confess,  not  that  the  dogmata  of 
our  theological  system,  but  that  at  least  the  sayings  of  cer- 
tain of  our  theological  writers  on  the  subject  of  human 
depravity  are  not  at  one  with  the  findings  of  observation. 
And  we  make  this  admission  with  all  the  less  fear,  that  we 
believe  the  correction  of  the  language  which  we  deem  to  be 
exceptionable,  does  not  weaken,  but  rather  serves  to  con- 
firm and  strengthen  the  foundations  of  orthodoxy.  Surely 
then  it  is  rash,  and  fitted  to  mislead  into  a  hurtful  and 
wrong  impression — as  if  theology  and  observation  were 
not  at  one — when  told  in  a  style  of  sweeping  invective,  by 
certain  defenders  of  the  faith,  that  humanity  out  and  out  is 
one  mass  of  moral  putrefaction,  and  that  naught  of  the  just 
or  the  pure  or  the  lovely  or  the  virtuous,  is  anywhere  to 
be  found  in  it.  Surely,  apart  from  Christianity,  anterior  to 
and  distinct  from  its  influence  upon  men,  there  are,  we  do 
not  say  in  all,  but  in  some,  nay,  in  many,  a  native  integri- 
ty and  honor,  a  generous  sensibility  to  the  wants  and  the 
wretchedness  of  others,  a  delight  in  the  courtesies  of 
benevolent  and  agreeable  fellowship,  an  utter  detestation 
of  falsehood  and  cruelty,  a  heartfelt  admiration  of  what  is 
right,  a  noble  and  high-toned  indignancy  at  all  which  is 
fraudulent  or  base ; — these  are  undoubted  phenomena  of 
human  character  in  the  world,  and  that  notwithstanding 
the  evasion  attempted  by  those  who  would  fain  ascribe 
them  to  hypocrisy,  or  the  love  of  popularity  and  applause. 
Though  some  there  be  who  do  put  on  the  semblance  of 
these  virtues  for  the  sake  of  popularity — yet  that  virtue 
should  be  popular  is  surely  in  itself  the  evidence  of  an 


398  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

honest  admiration  for  it,  and  that,  too,  extending  to  whole 
assemblages  of  men.  Better  this,  surely,  than  if  vice  and 
virtue  were  of  like  estimation  in  the  world.  But  we  will 
not  reason  any  further  on  this  hypothesis.  Virtue,  in  thou- 
sands of  instances,  is  not  a  semblance  put  on  for  the  sake 
of  admiration.  It  exists  as  a  substantive  reality  in  the 
hearts  and  habits  of  many  an  individual  who  does  what  is 
right  because  of  a  spontaneous  preference  which  impels 
him  to  it,  and  avoids  what  is  wrong  because  of  an  uncon- 
querable repugnance,  and  the  moral  discomfort  which 
would  attend  its  perpetration.  There  is  a  natural  virtue 
upon  earth,  and  without  which  states  and  commonwealths 
would  go  into  dissolution — a  social  morality  without  which 
society  w^ould  soon  fall  to  pieces — a  scale  of  character 
along  which  the  good  and  the  better  and  the  best  ascend 
in  upward  progression,  till  on  its  loftiest  summit  where 
Socrates  and  Scipio  and  Epaminondas  and  Cyrus  stand 
forth  to  the  admiration  of  the  world,  we  behold  the  bright 
examples  of  unfeigned  worth  and  honor  and  patriotism. 

5.  Now  all  this  might  be  admitted,  and  without  prejudice 
to  the  cause  of  orthodoxy.  To  refuse  it  were  a  violence 
done  to  experimental  truth,  and  so  as  to  revolt  alike  the 
judgments  as  well  as  the  tastes  of  men.  It  is  thus  that 
theology,  or  rather  some  of  its  rash  and  precipitate  defend- 
ers, have  created  an  unjust  and  most  unnecessary  offense 
against  its  own  articles.  They  have  set  doctrine  and  ob- 
servation in  hostile  array  against  each  other ;  and  instead 
of  making  truth  manifest  to  the  conscience,  they  have  re- 
versed this  process  by  placing  conscience  or  intelligent 
conviction,  on  the  one  hand,  and  their  own  strenuous  rep- 
resentation of  our  nature,  upon  the  other,  at  irreconcilable 
variance.  No  two  things  can  be  imagined  of  more  oppo- 
site character  and  complexion,  than  the  lessons  sometimes 
set  forth  in  the  pages  of  our  controversial  divinity,  on  the 
right  side  of  the  question  too,  and  the  lessons  as  read  by 
many  a  shrewd  and  intelligent  observer,  both  in  the  tablet 
of  his  own  heart  and  on  the  face  of  general  society. 

6.  It  is  not,  however,  the  inconsistency  of  human  writers, 


THE  DISEASE.  399 


but  the  consistency  of  the  Bible  with  the  findings  of  expe- 
rience, that  we  are  most  concerned  about.  Nothing  can 
exceed  the  terms  of  degradation  in  which  its  inspired  au- 
thors speak  of  our  fallen  humanity,  telling  us  at  one  time 
of  the  filthy  rags  of  our  own  righteousness  ;  at  another,  of 
man  being  conceived  in  sin  and  shapen  in  iniquity;  at  a 
third,  of  the  heart  being  deceitful  above  all  things,  and 
desperately  wicked  ;  and,  finally,  instead  of  a  world  bright- 
ened or  at  all  beautified  even  by  occasional  or  but  tran- 
sient gleams  of  the  morally  fair  and  upright  and  honor- 
able, instead  of  making  any  allowance  for  the  amiable 
instincts  and  sensibilities  of  our  nature,  they  tell,  without 
qualification  and  without  softening,  of  man  having  gone  al- 
together aside,  and  of  the  whole  world  lying  in  wickedness. 
7.  There  is  a  patent  way  of  clearing  up  this  perplexity. 
We  need  only  advert  to  two  distinct  moral  standards — 
each  of  undoubted  reality  and  truth  of  application  to  the 
conduct  and  the  characters  of  men.  There  is  a  social  and 
there  is  a  divine  standard  of  morality.  There  is  a  terres- 
trial as  well  as  a  celestial  ethics.  There  is  a  duty  which 
man  owes  to  his  fellows,  which  apart  from  the  considera- 
tion of  Deity,  is  both  recognized  and  to  a  great  extent  ob- 
served and  proceeded  on  in  society.  And,  distinct  from 
this,  there  is  a  duty  which  man  owes  to  his  God.  It  is  a 
possible,  nay  an  actual  and  frequent  thing,  for  one  to  be 
decently,  even  conscientiously  and  scrupulously  observant 
of  the  one,  and  yet  wholly  unobservant  and  wholly  un- 
mindful of  the  other.  To  our  view  there  are  no  two  things 
more  palpably  different  than  the  virtues  which  belong  to 
the  citizenship  of  earth,  and  the  virtues  which  belong  to 
the  citizenship  of  heaven  ;  and  which  every  aspirant  for 
that  blissful  and  glorious  inheritance  should  be  ever  prac- 
ticing as  the  chief  and  proper  education  for  a  child  of  im- 
mortality. And  what  we  affirm  is,  that,  on  the  strength 
Qf  the  former  virtues,  there  be  many  who  are  good  citizens 
and  good  members  of  society,  who  yet,  in  utter  destitution 
of  the  latter  virtues,  have  no  practical  sense  whatever  of 
the  authority  of  God,  and  live  without  Him  in  the  world,    i 


400  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

8.  Now  it  ought  to  be  recollected,  that  the  great  ques- 
tion agitated  in  the  Bible,  and  for  the  adjustment  of  which 
the  overtures  of  Christianity  have  been  presented  to  the 
world,  is  not  a  question  between  man  and  man,  accusing 
or  else  excusing  one  another.  It  is  a  question  between 
God  and  man.  It  is  God's  controversy  with  His  own  sin- 
ful world  v^hich  is  discussed  there,  and  for  which  a  method 
of  settlement  on  certain  terms  is  proposed  there.  We  are 
not  to  complicate,  and  far  less  to  identify,  two  questions 
■which  are  so  distinct  the  one  from  the  other.  The  man 
who  deals  justly  with  his  neighbor  is  better  than  the  man 
who  steals  from  him,  but  if  both  be  alike  heedless  or  for- 
getful of  God,  God  has  the  same  reckoning  with,  and  the 
same  complaint,  the  same  remonstrance  against  both.  A 
social  integrity  is  better  than  a  social  delinquency  or  crime ; 
but  if  it  was  not  a  sense  of  God's  will  which  prompted  the 
one,  any  more  than  a  sense  of  God's  will  which  I'estrained 
from  the  other,  then  there  may  be  the  like  irreligion  with 
the  performer  of  each,  and  God  may  have  one  and  the 
same  charge  to  prefer  against  each — even  that  He  has 
nourished  and  brought  up  children,  and  they  do  not  care 
for  Him.  If  theirs  be  the  same  degree  of  ungodliness,  then 
all  we  contend  for  is,  that  theirs  also  is  the  same  guilt  of 
ungodliness,  whatever  the  difference  be  in  other  things — 
whether,  for  example,  the  one  have  a  natural  taste  for  beau- 
ty, and  the  other  wants  it;  or — for  there  is  a  perfect  iden- 
tity of  principle  and  conclusion  between  the  two  cases — 
the  one  have  a  natural  inclination  for  truth,  and  the  other 
wants  it.  We  have  it  in  full  recollection  that  God  does 
not  command  us  to  love  beauty,  but  that  He  does  com- 
mand us  to  He  not  one  to  another;  and  we  are  also  aware 
of  the  delusion  w^hich  this  has  given  rise  to — as  if  the  habit 
and  observance  of  truth,  though  altogether  founded  on  an 
accidental  conformity  between  the  man's  taste  and  God's 
will,  made  him  not  only  socially  better,  but  also  religiously 
better,  than  the  man  who  could  utter  a  convenient  or  gain- 
ful falsehood  when  some  sordid  interest  required  it  at  his 
hands.     But  if  it  be  irrespective  of  God's  will  that  I  ad- 


THE  DISEASE.  401 


mire  a  landscape,  and  if  it  be  as  much  irrespective  of 
God's  will  that  I  fulfill  an  engagement  or  promise,  then 
truly  there  is  as  little  religion  in  the  one  as  the  other  of 
these  doings ;  and  the  moral  taste  in  the  one  instance,  the 
natural  taste  in  the  other,  may  both  consist  with  the  same 
utter  and  absolute  indifference  to  the  authority  of  God. 
Now,  in  supporting  the  charge  of  human  depravity,  this 
last  is  our  great,  and  the  charge  could  be  fully  made  good 
though  it  were  our  only,  indictment  against  the  species. 
We  need  but  to  reason  upon  one  count,  and  that  is  the 
count  of  their  ungodhness.  We  have  no  interest  in  deny- 
ing, and  it  were  most  unwise  in  theologians,  because  asso- 
ciating with  their  cause  a  positive  untrueness,  to  deny  that 
there  are  constitutional  and  complexional  varieties  in  the 
characters  of  men,  and  that  among  these  there  are  social 
and  constitutional  virtues  in  the  world.  Our  single  im- 
peachment is,  that  it  is  a  world  lying  in  ungodliness  ;  and 
if  this  is  the  great  master-sin  of  creatures,  that  they  owe 
everything  to  God  and  give  Him  nothing  in  return — then, 
on  this  impeachment  alone,  may  the  apostoUc  sentence  be 
vindicated,  that  ours  is  a  world  lying  in  wickedness — a 
wickedness  the  deepest  of  all,  the  deadliest  of  all.  We 
have  but  to  keep  by  this  one  article  in  the  indictment. 
We  have  but  to  hinge  our  controversy  or  cause  upon  one 
question,  whether  ours  be  a  godly  or  an  ungodly  species  ? 
and  if  indeed  it  should  be  found  that  ungodliness  is  the 
practical  habitude,  the  constant  and  ever-recurring  tenden- 
cy of  nature,  then,  on  us  lies  the  monstrous  iniquity  of 
owing  all  and  giving  nothing  ;  and  on  God  is  the  mon- 
strous injury  laid,  that  He  is  robbed  of  the  moral  property 
which  belongs  to  Him  in  the  obedience  and  affections  of 
His  own  children.  That  this  is  the  reigning  characteris- 
tic of  our  race  may  be  gathered  from  the  broad  and  gen- 
eral aspect  of  society,  where,  apart  from  the  few  whom 
Christianity  has  formed  into  a  very  peculiar  people,  each 
is  obviously  walking  in  a  way  of  his  own  ;  and  without 
regard  to  the  bidding  or  will  of  the  rightful  Sovereign  in 
heaven,  is  following  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  heart,  and 


402  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

after  the  sight  of  his  own  eyes.  It  may  be  a  way  of  indus- 
try or  patriotism  or  study,  or  even  of  benevolence  ;  but 
unless  respect  be  had  in  it  to  the  will  of  God,  it  is  alto- 
gether destitute  of  the  religious  ingredient,  and  so  is  not  a 
way  of  religion.  This,  we  think,  even  on  a  rapid  glance 
of  our  acquaintanceship,  must  be  the  conviction  of  one  and 
all  in  regard  to  the  every-day  men  and  women  whom  they 
meet  with  in  the  world.  But  we  cannot  make  all  men 
pass  under  every  man's  review ;  and  therefore  cannot,  in 
the  way  of  induction,  prove  to  every  man  the  ungodliness 
of  all.  But  we  may  at  least  bid  each  man  take  cognizance 
of  himself;  and  far  more  useful  than  the  general  specula- 
tion will  be  the  individual  finding  by  each  of  his  own  un- 
godliness— ^when,  on  looking,  whether  inwardly  upon  his 
own  heart,  or  back  on  his  own  history,  both  his  conscience 
and  his  memory  can  tell  how^  little  the  sense  of  God  has 
had  to  do  with  either — how  much  he  has  been  thinking 
and  purposing  and  acting,  and  feeling,  just  as  he  would 
have  done  although  there  had  been  no  belief,  and  not  even 
the  imagination  in  his  mind  of  a  God  at  all — how,  in  the 
great  bulk  and  body  of  his  concerns,  he  manages  to  do 
without  any  reference  in  his  heart  to  God  v^hatever ;  or  in 
other  words,  how,  in  the  vast  majority  of  his  time  and  of 
his  doings,  he,  though  upholden  every  hour  by  God,  yet 
lives  and  moves,  and  has  his  being  in  an  element  of  practi- 
cal atheism. 

9.  Such  is  the  full  bent  of  nature  averted  and  averse 
from  God.  We  shall  not  expatiate  on  the  moral  enormity 
of  such  a  habit  and  such  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  de- 
rived and  wholly  dependent  creatures  towards  the  Being 
who  gave  them  place,  and  still  gives  them  every  moment 
of  their  continuance  in  the  land  of  living  men.  But  we 
would  here  advert  to  a  principle  of  jurisprudence  proceed- 
ed on  in  all  earthly  governments,  however  little  it  may 
have  been  recognized,  still  less  felt,  as  of  any  account  or 
operation  at  all  in  the  Divine  government.  It  is  thus  ex- 
pressed in  the  Bible :  "  Whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole 
law,  and  yet  offend  in  one  point,  is  guilty  of  all."     We 


THE  DISEASE.  403 


might  have  deferred  our  consideration  of  this  maxim  till  we 
had  made  entrance  on  the  views  and  representations  given 
of  our  moral  state  in  Scripture  ;  but  that  it  is  a  maxim  not 
only  announced  there,  but  consented  to  in  the  practice  and 
by  the  consciences  of  men.  To  be  treated  as  a  criminal, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  have  been  convicted  of  more  than 
one  crime ;  and  whether  it  be  murder,  or  treason,  or  theft, 
or  forgery,  any  of  these  singly,  though  with  entire  inno- 
cence of  all  the  rest,  might  infer  the  highest  vengeance  and 
last  penalty  of  the  law.  There  may  be  no  disposition  or 
desire  for  certain  guilty  indulgences,  and  hence  no  tempta- 
tion to  such  overt  acts  as  might  bring  down  upon  us  the 
imputation  of  certain  species  or  descriptions  of  guilt.  But 
if  there  be  one  disposition  of  prevalence  strong  enough 
over  the  authority  of  law  to  dare  the  commission  of  but 
one  crime,  sentence  even  unto  death  might  justly  go  forth 
against  it ;  for  while,  on  the  one  hand,  it  says  nothing  for 
our  loyalty  that  there  should  be  no  transgression,  when 
there  is  no  temptation,  on  the  other  hand,  it  says  every- 
thing for  the  general  want  or  weakness  of  this  principle, 
that  when  the  temptation  comes,  the  principle  is  overborne. 
One  does  not  need  to  perpetrate  all  the  social  offenses  ere 
he  be  dealt  with  by  society  as  an  offender ;  for  by  the  per- 
petration of  but  one  in  the  catalogue,  he  might  rightfully 
undergo  excision  from  the  community  of  which  he  has 
thus  proved — most  fully  and  adequately  proved — himself 
to  be  a  worthless  and  pernicious  member.  And  thus 
would  we  meet  the  extenuations  of  those  who  tell  us  that 
they  do  not  steal,  and  do  not  calumniate,  and  do  not  lie, 
nor  spurn  away  the  calls  of  humanity — enough  the  simple 
reply,  that  they  do  not  love  God ;  and  though  they  should 
never,  in  act  or  in  letter,  violate  any  other  of  the  com- 
mandments, the  first  and  greatest  commandment  of  all  is 
hourly  and  habitually  violated ;  or  the  first  and  greatest  of 
all  the  offenses  in  the  code  or  catalogue  of  all  possible  in- 
iquities has  been  repeated  by  them  times  and  ways  with- 
out number.  And  confining  our  view  to  this  single  trans- 
gression, we  would  further  consider  the  argument  of  those 


404  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

who  affirm  that  they  do  bear  a  respect  in  their  hearts 
towards  God.  And  in  proof  of  this  they  can  appeal  to 
their  family  and  individual  prayers — to  those  services  of 
worship,  both  private  and  public,  in  which  they  join,  and 
of  which  God  and  God  alone  is  the  object — nay.  often 
to  the  affections  of  their  inner,  as  well  as  the  doings  of 
their  outer  man,  the  occasional  seriousness  of  their  feeling 
evincing  the  undoubted  place  which  God  has  in  their  con- 
sciences and  thoughts.  Now  grant  that  they  love  Him  so 
far  that  they  would  like  to  be  well  with  Him — the  question 
is,  do  they  love  Him  in  the  terms  of  that  precept  which 
announces  its  own  rightfulness — do  they  love  Him  with  all 
their  hearts  ?  Grant  that  they  serve  Him — is  it  only  with 
a  part  of  their  time,  and  thoughts,  and  affections?  or  do 
they  consecrate  all  to  His  service — so  that  whatsoever 
they  do,  is  done  to  the  glory  and  the  will  of  God  ?  To  liq- 
uidate but  a  part  of  our  debt  is  surely  no  exoneration  for 
the  whole  of  it.  If  one  duty  be  no  discharge  for  another 
— one  part  of  a  duty  is  no  discharge  for  the  yet  unfulfilled 
part  which  remains.  Let  this  test  be  applied,  and  it  will 
be  found  of  the  most  accomplished,  whether  in  piety  or 
virtue  among  men,  that  they  too  are  children  of  wrath 
even  as  others,  and  that  the  whole  world  is  guilty  before 
God. 

10.  But  it  will  be  found  of  those  ungodly,  who  at  the 
same  time  are  more  decent  and  moral  than  their  fellows, 
that  on  them  perhaps  there  lies  a  greater  wrath — because 
in  their  ungodliness,  there  lies,  in  truth,  a  greater  wicked- 
ness than  in  the  ungodliness  of  those  who,  destitute  of  all 
the  natural  virtues,  are  execrated  in  society  as  monsters  of 
all  profligacy  and  vice.  The  men  of  fair  and  reputable 
conduct  are  not  so  execrated — nay,  may  be  held  in  honor 
throughout  their  respective  neighborhoods  for  the  upright- 
ness of  their  dealings,  and  the  largeness  of  their  charities, 
and  all  those  moralities  or  graces  of  good  companionship 
which  stand  associated  with  their  name.  No  wonder  that 
their  useful  and  agreeable  virtues  obtain  for  them  the  con- 
fidence and  applause  of  society — telling  most  beneficially. 


THE  DISEASE.  406 


as  they  do,  on  the  present  and  worldly  interests  of  the  life 
that  now  is  ;  and  so,  in  the  respect  and  testimony  of  all 
around,  the  possessors  of  such  virtue  may  verily  have  their 
reward.  But  all  this  while  God  may  be  out  of  sight,  or 
rather  out  of  thought ;  and  when  His  great  day  of  contro- 
versy and  account  comes,  there  are  materials  upon  which 
He  might  hold  a  severer  reckoning,  and  lay  a  heavier 
vengeance  on  the  good  than  on  the  bad  men  of  society. 
However  startling  this  assertion  may  seem,  there  is  an  ob- 
vious principle  on  which  it  may  be  vindicated.  The  truth 
is,  that  the  ungodliness  of  the  otherwise  good  is  sin  in  the 
face  of  greater  obligations.  If  a  larger  gratitude  and 
obedience  are  due  when  the  gifts  of  fortune  are  showered 
down  upon  us  in  the  good  providence  of  God,  surely  the 
same  are  also  due  when  the  gifts  of  nature  are  more  lib- 
erally conferred  upon  us  than  upon  other  men.  No  one 
doubts  this,  when  beauty,  or  health,  or  vigor  are  con- 
ferred upon  our  persons,  and  as  little  should  we  doubt  this 
when  a  healthier  or  happier  temperament  is  given  to  our 
minds.  Of  the  one  as  well  as  the  other  may  it  be  said — 
What  hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  receive  ?  It  is  in  virtue 
of  an  endowment  from  on  high,  if  ours  be  a  compassion 
more  tender,  or  ours  be  a  sense  of  honor  more  lofty,  or 
ours  be  a  generosity  more  diffusive,  or  ours  be  a  greater 
constitutional  delight  in  the  activities  and  services  of  be- 
nevolence, or  ours  a  more  chivalrous  and  devoted  patri- 
otism, or  ours  a  greater  inborn  taste  for  the  cordialities 
and  the  delicacies  of  social  intercourse — so  as  to  elevate 
and  signalize  us  above  the  general  table-land  of  that 
average  and  every-day  and  merely  neighborlike  character 
which  obtains  in  the  world.  These  are,  one  and  all  of 
them,  so  many  higher  gifts,  and  so  they  demand  of  those 
who  have  received  them  all  the  higher  acknowledgment. 
If  it  be  of  God  that  I  am  what  I  am — then  but  for  Him, 
instead  of  breathing  in  an  atmosphere  of  respect,  and  Hv- 
ing  amid  the  smiles  and  salutations  of  my  fellow-men,  I 
might  have  been  compounded  by  the  elements  of  my  con- 
stitution into  a  monster  of  deformity,  and  so,  an  outcast 


406  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

from  society,  have  been  sunk  in  the  lowest  depths  of  dis- 
grace and  degradation.  If  we  ought  to  be  grateful  for 
every  other  distinction,  surely  we  ought  for  that  which 
is  the  best  and  greatest  of  all — or  for  our  larger  share  of 
those  moral  endowments  which  conduce  more  than  all  the 
other  provisions  of  nature  beside,  both  to  the  happiness  of 
the  individual  and  the  wellbeing  of  society.  Even  but  for 
certain  desires  and  dispositions  given  to  the  lower  animals, 
as  the  maternal  affection  for  example,  the  stability  of  their 
respective  species  could  not  be  upholden ;  and  not  for  the 
stability  of  their  species  alone,  but  for  the  most  precious  of 
their  temporal  enjoyments,  we  behold  a  mental  constitution 
richly  furnished  with  instincts  and  tendencies  of  most  bene- 
ficial operation,  as  parental  tenderness,  and  compassion, 
and  the  love  of  esteem,  and  such  an  admiration  of  virtue 
as  leads  to  a  certain  degree  of  its  observance  in  ourselves, 
and  draws  from  us  the  willing  tribute  of  our  applause  when 
exempHfied  by  others ;  these  are  so  many  properties  or 
laws  of  our  nature,  without  which  no  social  community 
could  long  subsist,  but  would  speedily  fall  to  pieces  in  a 
wild  war  of  turbulence  and  disorder.  But  it  is  to  the  wis- 
dom and  benevolence  of  our  Maker  that  we  owe  them ; 
and  to  plead  these  various  instincts  and  virtues  of  nature 
in  mitigation  of  our  ungodliness,  is  more  than  suffering  the 
gifts  of  the  Most  High  to  seduce  our  affections  from  the 
Giver — it  is  strangely  turning  them  into  arguments  for  the 
vindication  of  our  apostasy  from  God. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ON  THE  MORAL  STATE  OF  MAN  AS  AFFIRMED  IN  SCRIPTURE, 

1.  The  most  memorable  of  all  the  Bible  passages  which 
can  be  quoted  on  this  subject,  occurs  in  the  third  chapter 
of  the  Romans,  ver.  10-18.  To  blunt  the  force  of  this  tes- 
timony, it  has  been  said  that  it  consists  of  extracts  from  so 
many  of  the  older  of  our  inspired  writers,  taken  chiefly 
from  places  where  they  are  employed  in  characterizing, 
not  man  in  the  general,  but  certain  classes  or  descriptions 
of  men — as  the  psalmist  is  when  describing  his  own  par- 
ticular enemies  (Ps.  v.  8,  9) ;  or  those  whom  he  before 
specializes  as  evil,  or  violent,  or  wicked  (Ps.  cxi.  3 ;  x.  7 ; 
XXXV.  1) ;  and  Solomon  in  the  Proverbs,  when  he  speaks 
not  of  the  world  at  large,  but  of  those  whom  he  stigma- 
tizes as  sinners  (Prov.  i.  16) ;  and  Isaiah,  when  he  remon- 
strates with  the  children  of  Israel  at  a  period  of  grossest 
degeneracy  (Is.  lix.  7).  The  same,  however,  can  scarcely 
be  alleged  of  Paul's  first  quotation  in  the  passage  taken 
from  his  epistle ;  for  in  turning  back  to  the  corresponding 
places  in  the  Old  Testament  (Ps.  xiv.  2,  3  ;  lix.  1),  we 
read  the  following  decisive  charges,  not  against  particular 
groups  or  bodies  of  men,  but  against  all  under  heaven : — 
"  The  Lord  looked  down  from  heaven  upon  the  children  of 
men,  to  see  if  there  were  any  that  did  understand,  and 
seek  God.  They  are  all  gone  aside,  they  are  altogether 
become  filthy ;  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no  not  one." 
But  the  brief  way  of  meeting  this  observation  is  just  to 
affirm — what  is  quite  obvious  and  undeniable — that  Paul 
does  borrow  this  language  from  the  elder  penmen  of  Scrip- 
ture, for  the  purpose  of  enunciating  his  own  express  doc- 
trine of  man's  universal  and  unexcepted  corruption.  So 
that  the  question  which  these  objectors  call  upon  us  to  re- 
solve is  not,  what  Paul's  meaning  is  ? — that  is  abundantly 
clear ;  but  what  the  use  is  that  he  makes  of  the  words 


408  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

quoted  by  him — whether  to  prove  a  doctrine,  or  to  illus- 
trate and  embody  it  ?  But  to  quit  this  place  altogether 
and  transfer  ourselves  to  other  places,  vs^here  there  is  no 
call  for  argumentation,  and  so  none  of  the  mist  that  is 
raised  by  it,  we  have  only  to  go  the  distance  of  a  few 
verses,  where  we  meet,  in  Paul's  own  language,  with  the 
following  decisive  statement — -that  all  have  sinned  and 
come  short  of  the  glory  of  God. 

2.  Citations  to  the  same  effect,  and  equally  express,  are 
to  be  met  with  beyond  reckoning,  not  only  in  the  epistles 
of  Paul,  but  in  almost  all  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  To  begin  with  a  few  more  extracts  from 
this  apostle,  what  can  be  more  conclusive  than  the  fact 
that  he  makes  sin  co-extensive  with  death — a  fatality  which 
extends  to  one  and  all  of  our  species  ?  "  So  death  passed 
upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned."  There  is  a  like 
universality  implied  in  the  doctrine  that  all  who  are  born 
need  to  be  reborn  to  be  made  meet  for  heaven  ;  after  which 
process,  they  are  said  to  be  in  the  Spirit ;  but  before  which 
process,  they  are  in  the  flesh.  And  so  we  cannot  imagine 
a  declaration  more  comprehensive  of  all  and  every  of  the 
human  race,  than  that  "  they  who  are  in  the  flesh  cannot 
please  God."  He  farther  tells  us  of  these  vile  bodies,  as 
if  they  were  all  charged  with  a  moral  virus,  to  be  freed 
from  which  they  must  be  changed  and  likened  to  Christ's 
glorious  body.  And  he  speaks  of  this  present  evil  world, 
to  be  delivered  from  which  Christ  gave  Himself  for  our 
sins — making  sin  and  the  world  commensurate  with  each 
other.  And  he  repeatedly  avers  that  no  man  is  justified 
by  the  law,  which  is  tantamount  to  saying  that  no  man  has 
fulfilled  the  law,  or  that  all  have  been  guilty  of  breaking  it. 
The  same  thing  is  expressed,  when  he  says  that  Christ 
came  to  redeem  them  who  were  under  the  law  ;  which  im- 
plies, that  they  who  were  under  the  law  stood  in  need  of 
redemption.  We  again  read,  that  Christ  came  to  seek  and 
to  save  them  who  are  lost.  Couple  this  with  the  affirma- 
tion— that  they  who  have  Christ  have  life,  and  they  who 
have  not  Christ  have  not  fife ;  and  it  irresistibly  follows, 


THE  DISEASE.  409 


that  all  who  are  without  Him  are  outcasts  from  life ;  and 
that  the  lost,  or  they  who  stood  in  need  of  salvation,  com- 
prehended one  and  all  of  the  human  species.  But  passing 
from  the  inferential  to  the  more  simple  and  direct  testimo- 
nies, the  following  are  a  few  of  these  taken  almost  at  ran- 
dom from  various  parts  of  the  Bible  : — "  Cursed  is  every 
one  that  continueth  not  in  all  things  which  are  written  in 
the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them  ;"  and  so  "no  man  is  jus- 
tified by  the  law,"  so  that  all  are  under  a  curse. — "  We  all 
were  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath,  even  as  others." 
Antecedent  to  the  special  work  of  regeneration  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  upon  a  human  being,  he  is  termed  in  Scripture 
the  old  man  ;  and  so  the  brief  averment  that  the  "  old  man 
is  corrupt,"  tells  of  a  universal  and  unexcepted  depravity. 
— •"  If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselve's, 
and  the  truth  is  not  in  us." — "  The  whole  world  lieth  in 
wickedness." — "  Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise 
perish  ;"  but  if  repentance  be  needed  by  all,  then  all,  ante- 
rior to  repentance,  are  in  a  state  of  sin.—"  There  is  no  man 
that  sinneth  not." — "  The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things, 
and  desperately  wicked." — "  How  much  more  filthy  and 
abominable  is  man,  which  drinketh  iniquity  like  water  ?' 
These  are  a  few  of  the  separate  and  miscellaneous  testimo- 
nies in  the  Bible  for  the  doctrine  of  human  depravity. 
But  the  whole  scheme  of  Christianity  pre-supposes  it  ;  and 
a  stronger  impression  of  it  is  given  when  we  look  to  that 
scheme  in  its  objects,  and  in  the  bearings  and  connection  of 
its  parts,  than  by  any  accuQiulation  of  distinct  and  particu- 
lar sayings,  however  clearly  and  unquestionably  they  ex- 
press the  truth  for  which  we  are  contending.  There  are 
no  propositions  which  stand  forth  more  conspicuously  in 
Scripture  than  that  all  men  stand  in  need  of  salvation  ;  and 
that  salvation  is  only  needed  by  sinners,  and  so  all  men 
are  sinners.  Christianity  in  its  very  essence  is  the  religion 
of  sinners ;  and  the  sinfulness  of  all  men  is  the  very  basis 
on  which  the  remedial  system  of  the  gospel  is  proposed 
for  the  acceptance  of  the  world.  It  is  a  revelation  of 
grace  unto   all   men   (Titus  ii.   11),  or  of  that  salvation 

VOL.  VII. — S 


rXSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


which  is  by  grace  and  not  of  works.  That  all  men  should 
require  such  a  salvation,  or  that  all  men  should  stand  in 
need  of  grace,  is  because  that  in  works  all  men  have  fallen 
short  of  the  perfection  of  the  law.  All  men  stand  in  need 
of  the  one  salvation,  because  all  men  have  forfeited  and 
become  incapable  of  the  other.  That,  than  Jesus  Christ 
there  is  no  other  name  given  under  heaven  whereby  men 
can  be  saved,  and  that  all  men  under  heaven  have  sinned, 
are  correlative  truths,  and  mutually  imply  each  other.  If 
it  be  through  the  blood  of  Christ,  a  blood  of  expiation,  that 
all  who  get  to  heaven  are  saved,  then  does  it  follow  uni- 
versally, of  them  who  get  to  heaven,  as  of  them  who  are 
kept  out  of  heaven — inclusive  of  the  whole  human  family 
— that  one  and  all  of  them  have  sinned. 

3.  The  rudimental  lesson  of  Christianity  is  to  convince 
of  sin.     There  are  various  ways  in  which  this  conviction 
might  be  carried,  and  he  who  knows  the  most  of  these 
ways,  is  the  most  richly  furnished  for  at  least  this  essen- 
tial part  of  the  work  of  the  ministry ;  let  it  not  therefore 
be  deemed  superfluous,  if  we  keep  by  this  great  lesson,  so 
long  as  other  demonstrations  of  it  occur  to  us  which  are 
yet  unexplained,  and  by  which  it  might  be  made  palpable 
to  minds  that  perhaps  are  yet  unreached.     We  have  al- 
ready tried  to  ascertain  in  how  far  the  sinfulness  of  man  is 
deponed  to  by  his  own  conscience,  as  informed  by  the  light 
of  nature  ;  and  also  in  how  far  it  is  deponed  to  by  some 
few  of  the  more  obvious  and  explicit  testimonies  which  are 
given  in  Scripture ;  or  otherwise,  in  how  far  it  is  shone 
upon  by  the  light  of  revelation.      But  there  are  certain 
other  aspects  in  which  the  subject  may  be  viewed,  and  in 
the  contemplation  of  which  both  conscience  and  Scripture 
bear  a  part.     The  two  lights  are  blended,  as  it  were,  con- 
currently and  responsively  ;  and  by  their  acting  and  react- 
ing on  each  other,  give  rise  to  a  new  and  striking  demon- 
stration.    We  say  new,  only  in  that  it  may  seldom  or 
never  have  been  set  forth  by  those  who  take  a  reflex  view 
of  our  mental  processes,  and  undertake  the  delineation  of 
them ;  but  not  new  in  point  of  direct  operation  or  fulfillment 


THE  DISEASE.  411 


on  the  minds  of  those  who,  in  possession  of  good  and  honest 
hearts,  receive  the  word  aright,  in  the  devout  and  diligent 
reading  of  their  Bibles. 

4.  The  argument  which  we  are  now  to  offer  hinges  on  a 
difference  which  obtains  between  the  two  mental  powers 
of  discovery  and  discernment.  The  one  is  much  rarer  than 
the  other — the  first  faculty  being  that  which  signalizes  the 
few,  while  the  second  is  diffused  among  the  many.  And 
so  what  one  man  only  can  discover,  thousands  of  men  can 
discern  when  once  it  is  set  before  them.  The  truths  which 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  first  demonstrated  and  made  known, 
awoke  numbers  of  his  own  age  to  the  full  and  intelligent 
recognition  of  them,  and  have  now  become  the  common 
property  of  hundreds  of  mathematicians  all  over  the  world. 

5.  Now  what  is  true  of  the  mathematical  is  pre-emi- 
nently true  of  the  moral.  One  man  might  announce  a  new 
principle  in  ethics,  or  at  least  the  new  application  of  an  old 
principle,  which  though  till  then  unheard  of,  might  com- 
mand the  instant  assent  of  all  who  hear  it ;  and  there  is 
this  difference  between  the  moral  and  the  mathematical — ■ 
that  whereas  in  the  one,  the  conviction  of  a  newly  pre- 
sented truth  can  only  be  arrived  at  by  the  footsteps  of  a 
lengthened  demonstration,  in  the  other  the  conviction  may 
arise  on  the  first  moment  of  its  utterance,  as  if  in  the  light 
of  an  immediate  manifestation.  It  is  thus  that  a  shrewd 
and  original  observer  might  fetch  up,  as  it  were,  from  the 
arcana  of  before  unexplored  truth,  a  maxim  whether  of 
prudence  or  morality — which  when  framed  by  him  into 
an  aphoristic  or  proverbial  saying,  is  accorded  to  by  all 
his  fellows,  as  if  now  perceived  by  them  in  the  light  of  its 
own  evidence.  And  so  it  is  that  the  conscience  of  man 
can  be  informed,  or  raised  above  its  former  level  by  a 
voice  of  wisdom  ah  extra ;  and  in  this  way,  when  a  just 
representation  of  life  and  manners  is  set  before  us,  every 
page  might  teem  with  novelties,  whether  in  the  disserta- 
tions of  the  moralist  or  even  in  works  of  fiction,  and  yet 
they  be  novelties  which  are  no  sooner  read  than  they  are 
recognized  of  all  men. 


412  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

6.  This  indicates  one  way  in  which  a  revelation  from 
heaven,  apart  from  its  miracles  or  its  sensible  and  histori- 
cal proofs,  might  be  met  and  consented  to  by  the  con- 
sciences of  men  upon  earth,  and  in  which  certain  of  its 
truths,  though  enunciated  for  the  first  time  in  the  world, 
might  nevertheless  be  the  objects  of  an  intelligent  convic- 
tion, as  if  radiated  on  the  mind  from  a  native  or  inherent 
brightness  of  their  own.  If  it  be  true  that  what  one  man 
only  can  discover,  thousands  might  afterwards  discern  in 
the  light  of  their  own  understanding — then  may  it  be  true 
that  what  no  man  could  discover,  might,  after  that  the  rev- 
elation has  been  made  of  it,  become  the  object  of  discern- 
ment to  millions,  and  that  too  in  the  light  of  their  own  un- 
derstanding. It  is  thus,  in  particular,  that  the  moral  judg- 
ments of  men  might  be  raised  and  rectified  to  a  degree 
that  never  was,  and  perhaps  never  could  have  been,  real- 
ized apart  from  revelation — which  revelation,  not  by  its 
reasonings  but  by  its  naked  statements  alone,  may  have 
both  purified  and  exalted  not  only  the  ethical  systems  of 
the  learned,  but  the  ethics  of  general  society.  We  might 
here  illustrate  our  argument  by  the  golden  rule,  as  an  ex- 
ample of  it — that  we  should  do  unto  others  as  we  wish 
others  should  do  unto  us,  first  propounded  by  our  Saviour, 
but  admired  even  by  the  heathen,  and  commending  its  own 
equity  to  the  consciences  of  all.  No  one  had  framed  this 
precept  before  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ,  yet  all  men  assent 
to  it,  at  least  in  judgment,  whether  or  not  they  follow  it  in 
practice.  It  is  altogether  a  precept  of  the  same  character, 
the  same  at  least  in  kind,  though  at  first  it  may  appear  to 
be  of  a  higher  and  more  comprehensive  nature,  when  told, 
in  the  terms  of  the  second  law,  "  To  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself."  And  yet  the  reason  and  conscience  of  man  might 
be  sufficient,  one  would  think,  to  raise  him  upward,  as  it 
were,  from  the  one  to  the  other  of  these.  Certain  it  is  that 
we  should  like  all  men  to  love  us  ;  and  it  would  enhance 
the  gratification  still  more  that  they  loved  us  as  much  as 
they  do  themselves — so  that  there  seems  to  be  nothing 
more  than  the  equity  of  the  golden  rule  in  the  obligation 


THE  DISEASE.  413 


under  which  our  own  Hkings  and  desires  have  laid  us,  that 
we  should  love  them  even  as  we  do  ourselves.  If  there 
be  not  the  same  full  and  instant  coalescence  with  the  sec- 
ond law  that  there  is  with  the  golden  rule — there  may  at 
least  be  a  preparation,  nay  an  aspiring  tendency,  towards 
the  more  transcendental  of  these  moralities.  And  certain- 
ly, however  much  the  inclinations  of  selfishness  may  recoil 
from  a  benevolence  so  exalted,  there  can  be  no  adverse 
determination  of  the  moral  judgment  against  it,  for  we 
should  look  on  that  love  to  a  neighbor  which  is  as  great  as 
the  love  we  bear  to  ourselves,  to  be  the  perfection  of  vir- 
tue, the  perfection  of  benevolence — whereas  aught  beneath 
this  we  should  regard  as  short  of  perfection.  And  thus  it 
is  that  this  law  of  love  to  our  fellow-men,  though  first  pro- 
posed by  Revelation  in  its  most  superlative  form,  may  yet 
in  this  form  be  largely  concurred  in  by  nature,  however 
much  it  transcends  the  powers  and  all  the  previous  concep- 
tions of  nature,  so  that  between  the  authority  of  Scripture 
and  the  progressive  light  of  conscience,  which  vScripture 
itself  is  so  much  fitted  to  expand  and  illuminate,  this  high 
standard  of  social  virtue  might  come  to  be  acknowledged 
as  the  sum  and  the  perfection  of  that  moral  excellence,  of 
which  this  world  is  the  theater,  and  the  brethren  of  our 
species  are  the  objects — insomuch  that  man's  own  con- 
science will  at  length  do  homage  to  this  saying  of  the 
Bible,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

7.  Now,  it  is  when  tutored  thus  far  that  we  are  on  a 
high  vantage-ground  for  the  conviction  of  sin.  It  is  Scrip- 
ture which  first  holds  forth  to  us  its  own  lofty  standard  of 
social  virtue.  But  I  trust  it  has  been  sufficiently  explained 
why  at  length  it  comes  to  be  not  Scripture  alone,  but  con- 
science and  Scripture  together,  which  unite  in  telling  how 
much  of  love  it  is  that  we  owe  to  our  brethren  of  mankind. 
It  is  needless  to  say  how  immeasurably  beneath  such  an 
exaltation  of  charity  as  this,  are  all  those  humanities,  and 
generosities,  and  kind  or  companionable  services,  which 
are  current  in  this  our  average  and  every-day  world.  Even 
when  carried  to  such  an  elevation  as  greatlv  to  sisnalize  a 


414  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

man  for  his  large  and  liberal  munificence,  still  how  little  in 
measurement  is  it  when  compared  with  the  benevolence  of 
God's  second  law — how  light  a  thing  is  it  when  weighed  in 
the  balance  of  the  sanctuary.  Do  we  ever  see  any  sensible 
approximation  to  a  love  of  our  neighbor,  as  intense,  and 
perpetual,  and  unwearied  as  the  love  of  oneself?  or  apart 
from  the  instinctive  affections  of  relationship,  can  we  point 
out  an  individual  as  jealous  of  the  reputation  of  an  acquaint- 
ance, or  as  careful  of  the  interest  and  happiness  of  another, 
as  he  is  of  his  own  ?  We  have  already  conceded  certain 
natural  virtues  to  man,  and  are  most  willing  that  they  should 
be  reckoned  for  as  much  as  they  are  worth  in  mitigation 
of  man's  social  imperfection;  but  small  indeed  will  the  miti- 
gation be  found  on  the  celestial  standard  of  the  second  great 
law.  For  in  the  application  of  this  lofty  rule  must  it  appear, 
how  vastly  beneath  the  summit  of  perfection  the  best  and 
greatest  of  men  has  fallen — that,  after  all,  his  inveterate  and 
inborn  preference  is  for  self — and  selfishness,  a  rooted  and 
concentrated  selfishness,  is  the  element  he  breathes  in. 
Whether  measured  by  the  will  or  by  the  example  of  the 
Saviour,  the  insignificance  of  all  his  doings  becomes  alike 
manifest  on  the  high  scale  of  the  morality  of  heaven.  Under 
the  promptings  of  a  compassionate  nature,  he  may  give  of 
the  crumbs  and  fragments  of  his  substance  for  the  relief"  of 
the  necessitous.  But  who  so  gives  as  in  the  least  to  resem- 
ble Him,  who  though  rich  yet  for  our  sakes  became  poor? 
or  who  so  loves  as  He  did  who  poured  out  His  soul  to  the 
death  for  His  enemies  ?  It  is  thus  that  the  higher  our  con- 
science or  moral  sense  of  the  law,  the  lowlier  will  be  our 
consciousness  of  an  exceeding  distance  and  deficiency  there- 
from. Our  experience  then  will  be  the  same  with  that  of 
the  apostle,  who,  without  a  right  notion  of  the  law  in  its 
extent,  and  the  law  in  its  spirituaUty,  felt  himself  safe ;  but 
who  when  visited  with  a  sufficient  manifestation  of  the  law's 
lofty  demands  upon  him,  was  at  the  same  time  visited  with 
the  conviction  of  his  own  exceeding  sinfulness.  This,  too, 
is  a  way  in  which  the  law  acts  as  a  schoolmaster ;  nor  will 
it  be  difficult  to  prove,  with  but  a  correct  reference  to  its 


THE  DISEASE.  415 


high  and  unalterable  requirements,  that  even  as  social  creat- 
-ures  all  men  are  infinitely  short  of  perfection,  and  so  all 
men  are  sinners. 

8.  But,  after  all,  the  best  method  of  truly  setting  forth  the 
state  and  measure  of  man's  guilt  and  deficiency,  is  to  set 
up  the  true  standard  of  man's  incumbent  godliness.  Even 
from  the  social  virtues  alone,  and  man's  actual  violation  of 
them,  we  can  gather  the  materials  of  a  most  emphatic  de- 
monstration. But  it  is  when  we  rise  from  the  social  to  the 
sacred  that  the  demonstration  becomes  irresistible.  Instead 
of  the  question  of  how  much  we  owe  to  the  neighbor,  let 
us  at  once  take  up  the  question  of  how  much  we  owe  to 
God,  and  then  gather,  both  from  a  review  of  our  history, 
and  from  a  reflection  on  the  state  of  our  hearts,  how  much 
or  how  little  of  what  we  owe  has  in  very  deed  been  ren- 
dered to  Him.  It  is  under  this  charge,  more  especially, 
under  this  head  or  count  of  indictment,  that  the  Bible  so 
promptly  and  so  powerfully  convinces  of  sin.  You  will 
remember  Bishop  Butler's  observation  of  its  being  the  Bi- 
ble's great  pecuharity,  its  main  and  leading  characteristic, 
that  it  treats  the  world  in  the  special  light  of  its  being  God's 
world ;  and  takes  up  with  men  under  the  special  view  of 
their  being  the  subjects  or  the  progeny  of  God.  It  is  this 
which  distinguishes  and  sets  apart  Scripture  history  from 
all  other  history  ;  and  we  may  add,  which  distinguishes 
Scripture  ethics  from  all  other  ethics.  Not  that  there  is 
any  opposition  of  principle  between  the  morality  of  the  sa- 
cred volume  and  the  morality  of  enlightened  nature ;  but 
that  the  things  of  God  occupy  so  large  a  space,  or  it  may 
be  rather  said  the  whole  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
— and  so  the  duty  we  owe  to  God  stands  forth  there  with 
such  a  breadth  and  a  prominency,  and  in  such  a  presiding 
character,  as  signalizes  this  book  from  all  other  authorship. 
Let  us  not  wonder  that  in  a  record  where  God  is  set  forth 
as  the  Sovereign  of  His  own  creatures,  godliness  should 
also  be  set  forth  as  the  sovereign  of  the  virtues.  In  this 
respect  the  preceptive  and  the  historical  are  in  perfect  keep- 
ing with  each  other.     If  in  the  one  we  are  told  to  love  the 


416  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

Lord  our  God  with  all  our  heart,  and  strength,  and  soul, 
and  mind,  that  we  should  worship  the  Lord  our  God  and 
Him  only  we  should  serve,  that  we  should  do  all  things  to 
His  glory — if  in  these  and  innumerable  like  passages  we 
find  the  constant  lesson,  the  great  burden,  as  it  were,  of  the 
preceptive  Scriptures,  to  be  God's  rightful  and  supreme 
authority  over  man,  and  so  the  corresponding  and  supreme 
obhgation  under  which  man  lies  of  loyalty  to  God  ; — then 
in  the  historical  Scriptures  what  we  chiefly  read  of  is  God's 
controversy  with  the  world  —  God's  remonsti'ances  and 
threatenings  against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness 
of  men — God's  reclaiming  calls  on  the  allegiance  of  His 
strayed  and  revolted  creatures.  And  though  the  wars  of 
nation  against  nation  constitute  one  of  the  largest  themes 
of  sacred  as  they  do  of  secular  and  profane  history,  yet 
even  these — and  it  is  here  where  the  Bible  stands  alone — 
are  uniformly  represented  as  the  effect  of  God's  righteous 
judgments,  as  evolutions  of  his  controlling  providence,  as 
parts  and  passages  of  the  Divine  administration.  No  won- 
der if  on  this  more  elevated  platform  we  shall  meet  with 
higher  principles  and  a  higher  standard  of  moral  obligation 
— and  so  as  with  this  original  and  comprehensive  rule  of 
righteousness,  to  make  all  the  clearer  demonstration  than 
we  possibly  can  do  on  the  mere  ground  of  terrestrial  ethics, 
of  that  greater  altitude  from  which  man  has  so  largely  and 
immeasurably  fallen. 

9.  There  is  even  such  a  natural  sense  of  what  we  owe 
to  God,  that  the  demonstration  to  a  man's  own  conscience 
of  his  constant  and  cleaving  ungodliness,  is,  even  from  the 
outset  of  your  dealings  with  an  ordinary  congregation,  one 
of  the  fittest  instruments  that  can  possibly  be  wielded  from 
the  pulpit  for  the  conviction  of  sin.  We  do  not  say  this,  as 
if  the  moral  light  of  humanity  were  such  that  it  superseded 
the  need  of  the  vSpirit's  illumination  ;  but  we  say  that  there 
are  certain  embryo  and  twilight  perceptions  of  right  and 
wrong,  and  more  especially  of  what  the  creature  owes  to 
the  Creator,  which  it  is  the  office  of  the  Spirit  not  to  re- 
verse, but  to  enhance  and  brighten  into  fuller  manifesta- 


THE  DISEASE.  417 


tion — just  as  the  sun,  when  it  emerges  from  the  horizon, 
does  not  transform  the  dim  and  dawning  objects  of  early 
morn,  but  only  makes  them  more  clearly  visible  than  before. 
It  is  true  that  we  have  greatly  duller  notions  and  sensibili- 
ties of  the  law  of  godliness  than  we  have  of  the  law  of  just- 
ice— insomuch  that  Paul,  when  ascribing  to  all  men  that 
law  unto  themselves,  in  virtue  of  which  they  could  justify 
or  condemn  each  other,  spoke  even  of  his  own  mind,  of  a 
very  high  order  though  it  was,  that  it  was  at  one  time 
without  law,  by  which  he  meant  that  holy  and  spiritual 
law  which  bears  chief  respect  unto  God  ;  and  so,  having 
little  or  no  sense  of  its  authority,  he  had,  on  the  principle 
that  where  there  is  no  law  there  is  no  transgression,  a  cor- 
respondingly little  or  no  sense  of  his  own  flagrant  deficien- 
cies therefrom.  It  is  thus  that  I  understand  him  when  he 
says,  "  I  was  alive  without  the  law  once," — that  is,  when  I 
had  no  sense  of  the  law,  no  sense  of  the  condemnation  un- 
der which  it  laid  me,  and  deemed  myself  safe.  But  still  it 
was  that  very  law  which  proved  the  instrument  of  his  con- 
viction. It  was  when  the  law  came  by  the  Spirit,  no  doubt, 
but  still  by  the  Spirit  of  God  shining  on  the  word  of  God — 
making  him  to  understand  the  force  and  application  of  the 
written  precept.  Thou  shalt  not  covet — then  it  was  that  he 
felt  alive  to  the  sense  of  his  own  sinfulness,  or  that  sin  re- 
vived and  he  died,  seeing  that  his  life  was  forfeited  to  a 
broken  commandment.  And  still  it  comes  to  the  lesson, 
that  by  reading  what  Scripture  tells  of  God's  law,  or  by 
urging  that  law  in  all  the  breadth  and  loftiness  of  its  re- 
quirements from  the  pulpit,  you  are  on  the  patent  road  for 
convincing  men  of  sin.  The  Bible  in  effect  affirms  our  sin- 
fulness, when  it  affirms  the  high  demands  and  prerogatives 
of  a  law  which  every  enlightened  conscience  must  feel  that 
we  have  fallen  from.  There  is  not,  therefore,  a  likelier 
expedient  than  a  close  and  faithful  preaching  of  the  law, 
for  giving  success  and  efficacy  to  the  preaching  of  the  gos- 
pel. When  made  sensible  that  we  should  do  all  things  to 
the  glory  of  God,  then  are  we  most  susceptible  of  what  I 
should  call  the  first,  for  it  is  indeed  the  great  outset  lesson 


418  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

of  Christianity,  as  set  forth  by  Paul  in  the  masterly  demon- 
stration of  his  epistle  to  the  Romans,  that  in  air  things  we 
have  come  short  of  this  glory. 

10.  It  is  thus  that  the  ethical  system  of  the  Bible,  in  the 
very  proportion  of  its  loftiness  and  purity,  is  so  fitted  to 
convince  the  reader  of  sin — and  just  because,  if  at  all  en- 
lightened in  the  know^ledge  of  himself,  must  he  perceive 
how^  immeasurably  low  his  moral  position  is  beneath  the 
standard  of  its  immutable  and  all-perfect  law.  Let  the 
Spirit  but  open  his  understanding  to  understand  both  the 
word  of  God  and  his  own  character,  and  there  lie  within 
his  reach  the  materials  of  a  most  overwhelming  demon- 
stration. His  conscience  will  go  along  with  the  most  hum- 
bling  representations  which  are  there  given  of  humanity— 
for  there  is  just  the  universal  consistency  of  eternal  truth, 
in  that  the  same  book  which  most  exalts  our  view  of  what 
man  ought  to  be,  should  also  most  depress  our  view  of  what 
man  actually  is.  Accordingly,  nothing  can  exceed  the  terms 
of  degradation  in  which  the  Bible  arraigns,  nay  vilifies,  our 
nature — charging  us  at  one  time  with  the  destitution  of  all 
godliness,  when  it  speaks  of  us  as  living  without  God  in  the 
world ;  but,  far  more  monstrous  than  this,  charging  us  at 
another  time  with  the  direct  opposite  of  godliness,  as  when 
it  speaks  of  the  carnal  mind  being  enmity  against  God. 
Could  we  but  gain  the  conscience  over  to  these  statements 
of  Scripture,  the  work  of  conviction  would  be  well  nigh 
perfected ;  and  man,  stripped  of  every  plea  or  every  pal- 
liative by  which  he  could  at  all  sustain  a  dependence  upon 
himself,  would  become  a  likelier  subject  for  the  calls  and 
invitations  of  the  gospel.  The  terms  of  a  violated  law 
might  all  the  more  readily  shut  him  up  unto  the  faith — be- 
cause reduced  by  the  sense  of  his  own  worthlessness  to  a 
thankful  acquiescence  in  the  overtures  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Let  us  therefore  address  ourselves  more  closely  to 
the  examination  of  these  two  charges  : — that  is,  of  man  be- 
ing not  only  devoid  of  godliness,  but  despiteful  toward  God. 

1 L  The  two  charges  are  distinct  from  each  other.  There 
are  many  in  society  whom  it  might  not  be  difficult  to  con- 


THE  DISEASE.  419 


vince  that  they  live  without  God ;  but  if  we  were  to  say, 
further,  that  in  their  minds  there  existed  a  positive  enmity 
against  Him,  their  consciences  would  refuse  to  go  along 
with  us.  They  are  not  sensible  of  any  such  feeling  as  the 
hatred  of  God  in  their  hearts.  They  bear  Him — at  least 
their  own  experience  of  the  emotions  which  pass  within 
their  breasts  would  suggest  no  such  thing— they  bear  Him 
no  ill  will,  no  antipathy;  and  certain  it  is  that  they  bid  Him 
no  express  or  open  defiance.  Blasphemy  is  a  thing  they 
would  shudder  at ;  and  if  they  would  thus  recoil  from 
speaking  against  Him,  how  can  they  be  said  to  feel  against 
Him  ?  Out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
speaketh ;  and  if  the  heart  do  rankle,  as  theologians  tell  us, 
with  all  sorts  of  repugnance  and  dislike  against  God,  why 
do  these  find  no  vent  from  the  lips  in  words  of  rancorous 
hostility  ?  Certain  it  is,  that  if  between  man  and  man  there 
should  break  out  a  controversy,  and  the  heart  of  the  one 
should  tumultuate  in  fierce  exasperation  against  the  other, 
it  would,  if  nature  were  given  way  to,  make  instant  betrayal 
of  itself,  in  language  of  fiery  and  fierce  invective.  We 
never  by  any  chance  saw  any  man  thus  tumultuate  and 
storm  against  the  God  who  made  him ;  and  if  ever  it  should 
be  realized,  it  were  a  rare  and  monstrous  exhibition,  at 
which  almost  all  men,  instead  of  sympathizing  with  it, 
almost  all  men  would  be  horror-stricken  and  revolted  to 
the  uttermost.  It  might  be  difficult,  amid  such  contradict- 
ory appearances  as  these  to  establish  by  any  direct  proof, 
at  least  to  the  satisfaction  of  human  consciences,  the  apos- 
tolic charge  of  nature's  positive  enmity  to  God.  Even  the 
worst  of  malefactors,  the  literal  and  palpable  transgressors 
of  all  the  commandments,  might  have  something  to  say  in 
arrest  of  this  judgment.  He  might  allege,  and  with  a 
certain  degree  of  plausibility  too,  that  when  hurried  into 
wickedness  by  the  force  of  temptation,  it  is  not  his  hatred 
of  God,  but  his  love  of  sin,  which  is  the  cause  of  it ;  and 
that  all  the  while  there  is  no  sensible  aversion  of  his  heart 
toward  God,  though  a  very  great  fondness,  he  will  admit, 
for  the  indulgence  of  those  propensities  which  God  hath 


420  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


given  to  him — nay,  so  far  from  any  desire  of  a  controversy 
with  God,  he  w^ould  gladly  be  at  peace  with  Him;  for  if 
God  would  only  abstain  from  any  quarrel  against  him,,  he 
would  have  no  quarrel  against  God,  and  very  glad  indeed 
would  he  be  if  on  these  terms  he  were  fairly  let  alone.  It 
is  thus  that  even  he  can  parry  the  charge  of  having  aught 
like  a  hostile  feeling  towards  God,  or  of  carrying  in  his 
breast  any  positive  wrath  or  enmity  against  Him. 

12.  It  is  thus,  that  on  the  principle  of  speaking  to  men  as 
they  were  able  to  bear,  I  would  advise,  that  in  dealing  with 
men  to  convince  them  of  sin,  you  should  postpone  the  charge 
of  their  being  against  God  till  you  had  made  good  the  more 
practicable  charge  of  their  being  without  God.     There  are 
ministers  who,  by  way  of  parading  their  orthodoxy,  luxuri- 
ate in  making  the  most  strenuous  asseveration  of  it,  and  so 
as  often  to  startle  and  astonish  their  hearers,  but  so,  at  the 
same  time,  as  to  repel,  when  they  should  study  rather  to 
carry  their  understandings.     For  this   purpose,  both  our 
Saviour  and  His  apostles  went  gradually  to  work — making, 
as  it  were,  the  most  cautious  approaches  to  the  prejudices 
of  the  men  with  whom  they  had  to  do.     And  it  is  surely  a 
warrantable  calculation,  when  we  find  it  a  hard  task  to 
convince  any  that  in  his  heart  there  is  aught  like  a  positive 
malice  against  God,  that  we  shall  perhaps  come  more  home 
to  human  consciences  when  we  try  to  make  it  out,  that  in 
every  natural  heart  there  is  at  least  a  contentedness,  an 
entire  satisfaction  and  contentedness  to  be  without  God — 
to  hve  without  Him  in  the  world.     The  verdict  of  against 
may  require  a  longer  examination  and  trial,  a  longer  de- 
liberation ere  it  can  be  brought  in  ;  but  the  verdict  of  with- 
out may  perhaps  be  sooner  and  more  summarily  determined. 
The  re-probate  whom  we  have  now  quoted,  and  who  would 
gladly  quit  all  thought  whatever  of  God,  if  God  would 
simply  let  him  alone — he,  though  he  might  plead  not  guilty 
to  the  charge  of  there  being  within  him  aught  hke  a  malig- 
nant feeling  against  God,  will  not  deny  a  thing  so  palpable 
to  his  own  convictions,  as  that  he  would  be  quite  satisfied 
to  live  without  God,  and  be  suffered  to  prosecute  his  career 


THE  DISEASE.  421 


of  vicious  indulgence,  undisturbed  by  any  sense  of  guilt,  or 
any  dread  of  a  vengeance  to  come  at  the  hand  of  an  offended 
Lawgiver.  Now,  we  ask  if  that  which  is  patent  to  the 
conscience  of  this  man — his  perfect  willingness  to  be  free 
of  God,  and  wdthout  God  to  enjoy  himself  in  his  own  way 
— if  it  be  not  alike  patent  to  your  consciences,  that  indeed 
your  habit,  too,  your  prevalent  inclination,  is  just  to  do  in 
this  respect  as  he  does — that  is,  to  live  without  God,  in  the 
prosecution  and  enjoyment  of  your  own  way  ?  We  do 
not  say  that  in  all  respects  you  are  the  same  with  this 
criminal — we  are  far  from  imagining  that  your  way  is  his 
way.  We  are  merely  saying  of  it  that  it  is  your  own 
way ;  and  that,  in  the  prosecution  of  that  way,  all  of  you, 
over  whom  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  has  not  obtained  the 
practical  ascendency,  are  satisfied  to  live,  or  at  least  do,  in 
fact — with  the  perpetual  bias  of  your  hearts,  and  through- 
out the  great  bulk  of  your  history — live  without  God.  You 
may  be  as  little  sensible  as  he  is  of  any  positive  antipathy 
in  your  minds  against  God ;  but  ought  to  feel  as  sensible 
as  he  of  the  contentedness  in  your  minds  to  live  without 
God.  With  all  the  other  differences  between  him,  the 
atrocious  delinquent,  and  you,  the  fair  and  passable,  nay, 
perhaps  the  respectable  member  of  society,  there  may  be 
no  difference  in  this,  that  both  of  you  live,  and  both  of  you 
are  satisfied  to  live,  without  God.  I  should  like  each  to 
take  account  of  his  own  state  and  his  own  disposition  in 
this  matter ;  and  could  it  at  all  help  them  to  the  passing 
of  a  right  sentence  upon  themselves,  it  might  lead  to  con- 
vince them,  that  immersed  in  earthliness,  and  breathing  in 
no  other  element  than  that  of  sense  and  of  time,  which, 
apart  from  God  or  without  God,  is  wholly  and  altogether 
an  element  of  irreligion,  they  really  are  not  in  a  state  for 
being  borne  aloft  to  the  joys  or  exercises  of  the  upper 
sanctuary — they  really  are  not  in  a  state  which  it  will  do 
to  die  in. 

13.  For  this  purpose  let  me  allege  a  few  specimens  in 
the  way  of  proof  or  illustration,  and  such  as  the  consciences 
of  hearers  would  be  most  likely  to  go  along  with. 


422  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

14.  Let  me  first,  then,  instead  of  our  supposed  criminal, 
fasten  on  a  man  of  average  and  every-day  character  in 
society — such  a  one  as  we  meet  daily  in  hundreds  upon 
our  streets,  or  in  the  walks  of  ordinary  fellowship — a  per- 
son who  divides  his  time  between  the  sleep  which  refreshes 
him,  and  the  food  which  sustains  him,  and  the  work  which 
earns  for  him  the  means  or  materials  of  his  livelihood — 
one  who  is  not  at  all  to  be  shunned  or  execrated  as  a 
delinquent,  but  a  very  tolerable,  companionable,  and 
neighborlike  person,  who  loves  his  children  or  the  mem- 
bers of  his  own  household  very  much  as  the  bulk  or  the 
generality  of  other  folks  do — keeps  up  a  fair  and  courteous 
standing  with  his  acquaintances— pays  to  all  their  dues — 
and,  on  the  whole,  makes  his  way  evenly  and  inoffensively 
through  the  world.  I  would  just  ask  such  a  person — and 
I  have  no  doubt  there  are  hundreds  of  such  in  many  a  con- 
gregation— that  he  will  just  look  back  on  these  the  wonted 
stages  or  cycles  of  his  history,  and,  taking  a  review  of  the 
thoughts  and  the  feelings  and  the  desires  and  the  purposes 
that  pass  all  the  while  in  ceaseless  and  busy  succession 
through  his  heart,  will  he  just  tell  me  how  much  or  how 
little  of  God  has  been  there  ?  I  do  not  wish  to  overtask 
his  memory,  and  therefore  will  not  send  him  over  a  very 
wide  or  extended  survey  of  the  years  that  are  past;  but  to 
facilitate  and  abridge  the  labor  of  this  self-examination,  I 
would  rather,  if  he  chose,  limit  him  to  the  retrospect  of  a 
single  day ;  and  to  fix  on  the  most  recent,  and  so  the 
freshest  in  his  recollection  of  any,  I  would  bid  him  take  an 
account  of  the  proceedings  of  yesterday,  and  then  tell  me 
how  much  or  how  little  the  will  of  God  had  to  do  with 
them.  Was  His  will  thought  of  at  all,  or  ever  once  ad- 
verted to?  Did  the  principle,  to  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord 
unto  all  well-pleasing — did  this  principle  give  direction  to 
one  movement,  or  impulse  to  a  single  footstep  in  the  trans- 
actions of  yesterday  ?  Was  it  the  history  of  a  self-willed 
and  self-regulating  creature,  or  of  a  creature  ever  looking 
upward  from  the  earth  he  treads  on  to  his  Creator  in  the 
heavens,  and  subordinating  himself  in  all  things  to  the 


THE  DISEASE.  423 


rightful  authority  of  this  Sovereign  and  supreme  Lawgiver? 
Let  him  tell  me,  in  a  word,  was  it  God's  will  or  his  will — 
whether  the  promptings  of  his  own  spontaneous  inclination, 
or  the  precepts  that  issue  from  the  throne  of  God — which 
of  these,  we  ask,  presided,  or  had  the  practical  ascendency 
over  the  whole  course  and  conduct  of  the  very  last  day 
which  rolled  over  him  ?  We  leave  the  question  to  every 
man's  conscience ;  and  if  it  do  bear  witness  to  a  godless 
yesterday,  then,  although  the  lights  of  our  own  memory 
should  fail,  there  is  a  book  of  remembrance  which  tells  in 
undying  characters  if  the  habit  and  character  of  this  one 
day  be  not  of  a  piece  with  the  habit  and  character  of  all 
our  days  upon  earth :  and  so  the  godless  yesterday  were 
but  the  type  and  representative  of  a  godless  past  week ;  a 
godless  past  month,  a  godless  past  year,  a  godless  lifetime ; 
or  that,  in  other  words,  from  the  first  breath  of  our  infancy 
to  the  moment  of  the  reckoning  which  we  now  hold,  we 
may  have  been  living  in  exile  from  God,  living  without 
God  in  the  world. 

15.  There  are  some  who  try  to  make  their  escape  from 
this  charge,  by  telling  us  that  they  must  give  time  and 
thought  to  their  necessary  affairs,  and  cannot  always  be 
thinking  of  God.  Our  reply  is  this:  Who  gives  them  a 
right  to  put  asunder  the  things  which  God  hath  joined — to 
separate  religion  from  the  business  of  life,  when  the  whole 
drift  and  design  of  the  New  Testament  morality  is  to 
sanctify  the  business  of  life  with  religion  ?  They  would 
divorce  the  one  from  the  other;  whereas  such  is  the  mighty 
difference  between  their  spirit  and  the  spirit  of  the  Bible, 
that  its  distinct  aim,  as  may  be  gathered  from  innumerable 
passages,  is  thoroughly  to  impregnate,  or  thoroughly  to 
leaven  and  pervade  the  one  with  the  other.  It  is  not  the 
aim  of  Christianity,  and  never  was,  to  annul  the  business 
of  life,  to  lay  an  interdict  on  shops  and  markets  and  manu- 
factories, and  farm  or  family  managements,  or  any  what- 
ever of  the  lawful  trades  and  processes  of  human  industry. 
True,  it  claims  an  entire  mastery  over  all  these — not,  how- 
ever, for  the  purpose  of  putting  an  end  to  them,  but  to 


424  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

animate  them  with  the  right  spirit,  and  direct  them  to  their 
right  end.  They,  on  the  other  hand,  would  pat  off  Him 
who  is  the  Lord  of  Creation,  and  the  continual  Preserver 
of  men,  with  the  veriest  crumbs  and  fragments  of  human 
existence,  in  the  shape,  perhaps,  of  family  prayers  and 
Sabbath  services — thus  limiting  to  a  mere  corner  of  the 
domain  Him  who,  as  rightful  Lord  and  Proprietor,  is 
rightful  Governor  too  over  the  whole  of  it.  So  far  from 
renouncing  this  right  of  sovereignty  over  any  part  of  the 
territory  of  human  life,  I  cannot  see  a  single  half-hour  of  it 
in  which  God  has  not  both  a  will  and  a  way  for  us.  Mani- 
fold are  the  Scriptures  to  which  I  could  appeal  in  support 
of  this  great  principle.  In  one  place  I  find  Him  telling  the 
field-laborer  that  he  must  serve  his  master  not  with  eye- 
service,  but  as  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the  heart ;  or, 
in  other  words,  that  he  must  be  as  diligent  and  faithful 
when  his  earthly  superior  is  away  as  when  he  is  present, 
for  that  his  heavenly  superior  is  still  looking  over  him,  and 
will  put  down  to  his  own  account  what  he  does  well  for 
his  immediate  employer,  just  as  if  done  unto  Himself  In 
another  place  I  find  him  telling  the  household  maid  that 
she  must  not  purloin ;  but,  resisting  the  temptation  of  open 
doors,  and  of  all  the  other  facilities  which  occur  for  those 
snug  and  secret  and  unnoticed  appropriations  for  which 
there  are  so  many  opportunities  under  the  domestic  roof — 
that  she  must  serve  with  all  good  fidelity,  and  thus  adorn 
the  doctrine  of  God  her  Saviour  in  all  things.  And,  so  far 
from  religion  having  nothing  to  do  with  ordinary  and 
every-day  matters,  I  see  in  another  place  that  it  tells  the 
mistress  of  a  family  to  guide  her  house  well,  and  be  a  good 
keeper  at  home.  And  again,  so  far  from  laying  an  arrest 
on  the  busy  operations  either  of  the  artisan  in  his  workshop 
or  of  the  merchant  in  his  counting-house,  it  proclaims  the 
indispensable  duty  of  each  man  to  provide  for  his  own,  and 
especially  for  those  of  his  own  house,  else  he  hath  denied 
the  faith  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel.  These  are  but  a 
few  out  of  the  many  specimens  of  the  all-comprehensive 
saying,  that  whatsoever  things  we  do,  we  should  do  all  to 


THE  DISEASE.  435 


the  glory  of  God,  and  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  It  is  not  God 
who  has  exiled  from  his  regards  the  business  of  human  life, 
but  it  is  man  who  would  take  the  business  of  life  out  of  the 
hands  of  God.  Our  distinct  charge  is,  that  we  have  taken 
this  business  wholly  into  our  own  hands,  and  have  made  it 
to  be  altogether  ours,  when  properly  and  rightfully  it  is 
altogether  His.  And  we  again  repeat  of  one  and  all  who 
thus  walk  in  the  counsel  of  their  own  hearts  and  after  the 
sight  of  their  own  eyes,  that,  prosecuting  their  affairs  as 
they  do,  apart  from  all  consideration  of  God's  law  or  of 
God  the  Lawgiver,  they  indeed  breathe  the  very  element 
of  irreligion,  and  live  without  God  in  the  world. 

16.  It  is  not  for  the  sake  of  multiplying  our  illustrations, 
but  of  still  more  enhancing  and  confirming  the  lesson  which 
we  are  trying  to  establish,  that  we  now  bid  you  rise  from 
the  contemplation  of  these  common-place  characters,  the 
men  and  the  women  whom  we  most  commonly  meet  with 
in  society,  to  the  contemplation  of  humanity,  though  still 
of  natural  or  unconverted  humanity,  in  one  of  the  finest 
and  most  beauteous  and  most  exalted  of  its  specimens. 
We  ask  you,  for  this  purpose,  to  select  one  of  the  best  and 
the  noblest  of  our  kind  whom  you  ever  saw  or  heard  of — 
the  possessor  of  many  an  instinctive  and  sweet-blooded 
and  constitutional  virtue,  and  who,  because  of  these,  is  not 
only  the  joy  and  the  pride  of  his  own  family,  but  the  desire 
of  every  companionship,  and  a  great  public  blessing  to  the 
town  or  the  neighborhood  of  his  habitation,  and  over  which 
he  sheds  the  halo  of  his  presence  or  of  his  name.  Theology 
has  greatly  damaged  her  own  cause,  and  the  credit  of  her 
own  articles,  by  denying,  or  even  by  overlooking  what  is 
so  palpable  to  all  experience,  as  that,  apart  from  religion, 
and  from  any  practical  sense  of  God  in  the  breast,  such 
characters  do  exist.  We  read  of  them  in  the  classic  pages 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  before  Christianity  was  ever  heard 
of.  We  recognize  them  in  the  obelisks  of  departed  worth 
and  departed  patriotism  all  over  the  land,  raised  by  a  grate- 
ful community  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  services  in 
which  Christianity  had  no  operation.     We  hear  of  them  in 


426  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  frequent  notes  of  gratulation  and  applause  wherewith 
they  are  universally  spoken  of— whether  as  the  munificent 
.andlord ;  or  the  hberal  and  large-hearted  citizen ;  or  the 
senator  who,  unmindful  of  his  own  aggrandizement,  conse- 
crates all  his  energies  to  the  wellbeing  and  greatness  of  the 
country  which  gave  him  birth ;  or  the  high-minded  war- 
rior who,  alike  free  from  every  taint  of  selfishness  as  well 
as  fear,  yields  up  his  life  a  wilhng  sacrifice  in  defense  of 
his  nation's  liberties  or  his  nation's  honor ;  or,  finally,  the 
generous  aspirant  after  fame  in  the  walks  of  lofty  science 
or  lofty  scholarship,  from  the  labors  of  whose  midnight  oil 
there  issue  the  works  which  elevate  the  general  taste  and 
understanding,  or  the  discoveries  which  confer  innumera- 
ble blessings  on  society.  Now,  our  whole  argument  hinges 
upon  this,  and  it  is  impossible  to  deny  it,  that  the  golden 
opinions  uttered  everywhere  of  these  men,  might  all  be 
earned  by  nature's  powers  and  nature's  virtues  alone — 
without  so  much  as  the  thought  of  God,  and  certainly  in 
the  play  and  exercise  of  the  mind's  own  principles,  without 
any  impulse  whatever  taken  from  the  consideration  of  His 
will ;  or  not  because  prescribed  by  His  law,  but  prompted 
by  the  spontaneous  inclinations  of  one's  own  heart,  bent, 
and  bent  altogether  on  the  prosecution  of  one's  own  way. 
We  dispute  not  the  usefulness,  we  dispute  not  the  excel- 
lence of  any  of  these  principles,  or  the  high  and  honorable 
estimation  in  which  they  should  be  held  by  us.  They  are 
lovely  and  of  good  report.  We  are  not  bidding  any  with- 
draw their  admiration  from  those  fine  and  natural  sensibil- 
ities which  make  one  man  the  most  indulgent  of  masters  j 
or  from  those  honest  aspirations  after  the  public  weal 
which  make  another  man  the  most  zealous  of  philanthro- 
pists ;  or  from  the  warmth  of  those  kindly  and  companion- 
able feelings  whence  spring  all  the  courtesies  of  life,  and 
which  make  another  man  the  best  of  neighbors,  the  light 
and  the  charm  of  every  social  party;  or  from  those  work- 
ings of  strong  instinctive  affection  which  make  another 
man  the  fondest  of  fathers,  and  more  exquisite  still,  when 
in  the  lovelier  form  of  maternal  tenderness,  it  watches  over 


THE  DISEASE.  427 


the  infant's  sick-bed,  and  weeps  over  the  infant's  early 
grave.  Who  can  dispute  the  reahty  of  these  graceful  ex- 
hibitions?— and  where  is  the  stern  or  repulsive  theology 
which  could  have  the  heart  to  frown  upon  them — even 
though  the  exhibitions  of  a  human  nature  which  theology 
has  stigmatized  as  charged  with  a  moral  distemper,  which, 
however  tolerated  on  earth,  makes  it  wholly  unfit  for  the 
choirs  or  the  companies  of  heaven  ?  It  is  not  in  any  harsh 
or  ungenial  spirit  that  we  are  now  bidding  you  look  at  this 
matter,  or  bidding  you  pronounce  upon  it.  We  ask  you  to 
regard  it  as  you  would  any  experimental  question,  and 
give  us  the  calm  judgment  of  your  own  observation — 
whether  humanity  might  not  feel  thus  amiably,  in  all  these 
various  ways,  and  give  forth  all  these  beauteous  exhibitions, 
and  this  without  one  practical  influence  descending  upon  it 
from  the  upper  sanctuary,  or  one  heaving  aspiration  to- 
wards Him  who  is  throned  in  supremacy  there?  This  is 
the  only  verdict  that  we  are  now  seeking  at  your  hands — 
whether  nature  might  not  be  lovely  and  engaging  in  many 
of  her  phases,  and  yet  it  hold  true  even  of  the  children  of 
such  a  nature,  that  none  of  them  understandeth,  and  none 
of  them  seeketh  after  God  ? 

17.  We  shall  make  no  further  appeal  to  your  experience 
on  the  question  of  fact,  whether  it  be  not  the  habit  of  na- 
ture, in  all  her  aspects,  and  under  all  her  varieties  of  the 
more  and  the  less  lovely — whether  it  be  not  the  general 
habit  and  disposition  of  this  said  human  nature  just  to  take 
her  own  way,  independently  of  God?  or,  which  is  the  same 
thing,  whether  the  heirs  and  partakers  of  this  our  nature, 
do  not  live  without  God  in  the  world  ?  Our  appeal  now  is 
to  your  conscience,  or  moral  sense,  on  the  question  of  prin- 
ciple ;  and  we  leave  it  with  your  own  judgments  of  what  is 
right,  to  tell  how  such  a  habit  and  such  a  life  ought  to  be 
characterized.  Remember  that  the  case  on  which  we  are 
now  calling  you  to  pronounce  is  the  case  of  a  creature, 
we  shall  not  yet  say  who  positively  hates,  but  who  at  least 
forgets  and  does  not  care  for  the  Creator  who  gave  him 
birth.    It  is  the  case  of  a  man  letting  slip  every  hour  from 


428  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

his  remembrance  and  from  his  regards,  all  thought  of  that 
Being  who  gives  him  every  breath  which  he  draws,  and 
sustains  him  throughout  every  moment  of  that  existence 
which  He  holds  perpetually  at  His  hands.  We  bid  you 
consider  well  the  relation  in  which  these  two  parties  stand 
to  each  other,  and  this  that  you  may  rightly  appreciate  the 
manner  in  which  we,  the  derived  and  the  dependent  party, 
acquit  ourselves  under  it — the  relation,  we  mean,  which 
subsists  between  Him,  the  continual  preserver  of  rnen,  and 
us,  the  objects  of  His  care — His  eye  being  constantly 
directed  towards  us,  while  our  eye  all  the  while  is  as  con- 
stantly averted  from  our  Maker  and  our  God.  Will  you 
only  think  of  this  simplest,  but  truly  most  emphatic  of  all 
Bible  statements — that  in  him  we  live  and  move  and  have 
our  being;  and  yet  that  we  live  as  independently,  and  walk 
the  earth  we  tread  upon  with  as  firm,  unfaltering,  and  as- 
sured footstep,  as  if,  our  own  creators  and  our  own  pre- 
servers, it  was  not  in  Him  but  in  ourselves  that  we  lived 
and  moved  and  had  our  being.  And  then  to  think  how  un- 
moved these  hearts  are  by  any  consideration  of  the  Giver, 
w^hile  our  hands  ravenously  seize  upon  His  gifts ;  and  we, 
reveling  on  the  bounties  which  His  providence  showers 
over  us,  luxuriating  amid  the  beauties  which  His  creation 
spreads  around  us,  are  willing  to  forego  all  thought  of  our 
Maker  would  He  simply  let  us  alone,  and  keep  away  from 
us  that  hideous  death  and  that  terrific  judgment  which  fol- 
lows it.  Nay,  willing,  most  abundantly  willing,  would  He 
but  stamp  immortality  on  our  present  being,  and  make  this 
earth  the  abode  of  unfading  health  and  never-ending  plea- 
sures— willing  in  the  ceaseless  round  of  this  world's  pros- 
perous business,  and  merry  companionships  and  festive 
holidays,  and  the  full  enjoyment  of  every  social  and  do- 
mestic pleasure  between  the  cordiality  of  our  friendships 
abroad  and  the  endearments  of  a  happy  and  harmonious 
family  at  home — willing  on  these  terms  to  lose  all  sense 
of  God  ;  and  that,  never  once  revisited  by  the  thought  of  a 
Maker,  He  and  w^e  should  henceforth  cut  our  hold,  and  be 
quit  of  each  other  everlastingly.     It  were  difficult  to  esti- 


THE  DISEASE.  429 


mate  aright  the  enormity,  the  moral  enormity  of  this  deep- 
laid  ingratitude — this  atheism  of  the  heart,  as  it  may  well 
be  called.  Let  us  figure,  we  shall  not  yet  say  the  hostility 
or  the  hatred,  but  the  sheer  indifFerency,  amounting  to  the 
total  and  absolute  carelesssness  of  an  earthly  child  to  the 
earthly  parent  who  gave  him  birth,  and  with  unwearied 
affection  and  care  never  ceases  to  uphold  him,  and  it  may 
help  us  to  conceive  more  adequately  the  turpitude  of  living 
as  we  do  without  God  in  the  world — the  deep  criminality 
of  a  world  that  has  departed  from  its  God. 

18.  But  we  have  yet  only  ventured  to  press  home  the 
charge  that  we  live  without  God,  and  which,  if  rendered 
into  one  word,  we  should  express  by  indifference.  The 
charge  more  heinous  and  aggravated  than  the  former,  not 
of  our  being  without  God,  but  of  our  being  against  God, 
may  also  be  rendered  into  one  word,  even  hatred  ;  and 
which,  if  once  fastened  and  made  good,  would  make  us 
out  to  be,  not  the  forgetters  of  God  only,  but  greatly  more 
revolting  than  this,  the  haters  of  God.  There  are  many 
who  will  acknowledge  themselves  to  be  without,  but  can- 
not see  themselves  to  be  against  God.  They  hear  of  it  in 
Scripture,  but  they  do  not  see  it  in  the  light  of  their  own 
consciences ;  or,  in  other  words,  they  wall  plead  guilty  to 
the  charge  of  indifference,  but  not  to  the  charge  of  hatred. 
Now,  we  have  ever  thought  that  after  the  one  charge  is 
established,  then,  by  a  brief  and  sure  process  of  demon- 
stration, the  other  can  be  established  also.  There  is  but  a 
single  step  between  the  verdict  that  we  are  without  God, 
and  the  still  more  dread  and  appalling  verdict  that  w^e  are 
against  God.  No  wonder  that  we  are  not  sensible  of  our 
hating  God,  throughout  those  long  and  frequent  periods  of 
our  existence,  during  which,  year  after  year  and  day  after 
day,  we  never  think  of  God.  He  can  have  no  part  in  our 
feelings,  whether  of  love  or  hatred,  so  long  as  he  has  no 
part  in  our  thoughts.  If  we  can  only  manage  to  keep  Him 
out  of  mind,  then  all  the  while  there  will  be  no  felt  hatred 
of  God  in  the  heart — no  tumultuous  risings  of  nature  or 
antipathy  against  Him.     Now,  we   do   so   manage,  and 


430  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

nothing  more  easy,  than  to  pass  whole  days,  nay,  weeks, 
months,  years,  and  let  me  tell  it  all  out,  a  whole  lifetime, 
without  thinking  seriously  and  in  good  earnest  of  God,  or 
taking  a  full,  deliberate,  and  practical  view,  whether  of 
His  character  or  His  ways.  There  is  no  difficulty  what- 
ever in  forgetting  God.  The  difficulty  lies  all  the  other 
way — to  keep  Him  in  remembrance.  The  whole  habit  of 
nature  respecting  Him  is  that  of  a  deep  and  unconscious 
slumber ;  and  to  awaken  it  out  of  that  slumber — there  lies 
the  difficulty.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  sleeping  on,  and 
amid  the  opiates  of  sense  and  time,  in  charming  every 
thought  of  God  away  from  the  mind,  and  so  lull  the  heart 
into  a  state  of  perfect  and  so  of  peaceful  insensibility  re- 
garding Him.  We  have  already  made  it  out  against  the 
children  of  nature,  that  they  are  quite  willing  to  be  on  these 
terms  with  God  through  all  eternity — that  is,  on  the  footing 
of  live  and  let  live ;  on  this  footing,  quite  willing  are  they 
that  God  and  they  shall  be  conclusively  quit  of  each  other 
— they  taking  no  care  or  cognizance  of  Him,  and  He  tak- 
ing as  little  care  or  cognizance  of  them,  provided  only  He 
would  leave  them  in  the  full  swing  and  possession  of  this 
world's  enjoyments,  give  them  a  fee-simple,  as  it  were,  of 
His  own  glorious  creation,  and  so  let  them  everlastingly 
alone.  No  wonder  though  we  are  willing  to  be  at  peace 
with  such  a  God  ;  and  if  the  God  who  made  this  earth  and 
these  heavens  would  consent  to  such  a  state  of  things  be- 
tween Him  and  us — no  wonder  though  in  our  hearts  there 
should  be  no  hatred,  no  hostility  against  Him. 

19.  But  such  is  not  the  actual  state,  or  system,  or  econ- 
omy of  things  under  which  we  are  placed.  God  will  not 
give  his  consent  to  it.  Our  own  experience  can  tell  that 
live  and  let  live  is  not  the  tenure  on  which  we  are  suffered 
to  abide  in  the  territory  of  our  present  habitation.  In  a 
few  little  years  at  the  farthest,  death  will  knock  at  the 
door  of  every  one  of  us ;  and  then  shall  we  be  made  to 
behold,  in  truer  and  larger  perspective  than  now,  what  tho 
permanent  footing  is  on  which  God  chooses  to  stand  with 
the  creatures  whom  He  has  formed.     Such  a  spectacle  as 


THE  DISEASE.  431 


the  world  we  live  in,  where  men  regale  themselves  amid 
the  beauties  of  a  smiling  creation  and  the  bounties  of  an 
unfailing  Providence,  and  where  the  very  gifts  seduce  our 
affections  from  the  Giver,  can  not  long  be  tolerated,  but 
will  soon  be  swept  off  as  a  monstrous  anomaly,  or  a  moral 
nuisance,  from  the  face  of  a  goodly  universe  deformed  by 
its  presence.  Such  a  middle  place  as  the  one  we  at  present 
occupy,  where  men  live  in  tolerable  ease  and  enjoyment, 
yet  live  without  God,  must  soon  give  way,  and  nature  be 
broken  up  into  two  large  departments  standing  wholly  aloof 
from  each  other,  with  an  impassable  line  of  demarkation, 
or  rather  an  impassable  gulf,  as  of  a  wilderness  untrodden 
and  unknown  between  the  good  and  the  evil — on  the  one 
hand,  a  joyful  and  everlasting  heaven,  where  all  is  love 
and  perfect  loyalty  to  Him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne ;  on 
the  other,  a  dreary  and  everlasting  hell,  where  the  outcasts 
of  condemnation  lift  the  cry  of  rebellion  against  Him,  and 
who  after  a  life  of  thoughtlessness  and  thanklessness  here, 
will  spend  their  eternity  there  in  hardy  and  rooted  and 
resolved  ungodliness.  What  seems  but  indifference  here, 
will  break  out  there  into  an  open  and  implacable  hatred 
of  God;  and  the  question  is,  whether  this  very  hatred, 
which  is  disclaimed  by  the  worldly  and  unconverted  now% 
be  not  indeed  ripening  in  their  hearts,  and  preparing  them, 
for  all  the  despite  and  the  defiance  which  rankle  through 
eternity  in  the  prison-house  of  the  damned  ?  There  are 
methods  by  which  this  might  be  tested,  or  by  which  it 
might  be  made  manifest,  whether  this  hatred  of  God  be  in 
us  or  no.  It  will  become  abundantly  manifest  after  that 
God  has  laid  on  the  awful  infliction  of  His  final  and  ever- 
lasting doom.  But  the  question  we  have  now  to  put  is, 
How  do  we  feel  here,  when  He  only  threatens  the  infliction 
— the  time  not  yet  being  come  for  the  execution  of  it?  It 
is  true  of  these  threats  that  they  are  not  always  sounding 
in  our  ears — very  seldom,  indeed,  save  when  read  out  to 
us  from  the  Bible,  or  now  and  then  denounced  against  us 
by  a  faithful  minister  from  the  pulpit.  Neither  are  they 
often,  if  ever  at  all  present  to  our  thoughts  ;  and  no  wonder 


432  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

that  we  should  feel  no  enmity  to  God  in  our  hearts  all  the 
time  that  we  are  not  thinking  of  Him.  The  very  same 
thing  holds  true  of  the  worst  enemy  we  have  in  the  world  ; 
we  must  think  of  him,  ere  we  can  feel  against  Him.  So 
long  as  he  is  absent  from  our  minds,  our  minds  will  be  at 
peace  regarding  him — for  it  is  only  when  he  shows  himself, 
whether  to  the  sight  or  to  the  imagination,  that  the  fierce  and 
fiery  resentment  of  our  bosoms  will  be  awakened.  Now 
this  I  fear  to  be  the  whole  amount  of  our  peace  with  God 
— such  a  peace  as  most  assuredly  is  no  peace.  So  long 
as  we  live  without  God,  or  without  the  thought  of  God,  no 
wonder  that  we  are  not  sensible  all  the  while  of  aught  in 
our  hearts  against  God.  But  the  venomous  thing  may  be 
in  us  all  the  while,  though  dormant  and  unfelt  so  long  as 
we  are  engaged  with  business,  or  amusement,  or  hearty 
companionship,  or  any  other  earthly  thing,  be  it  lawful  or 
be  it  unlawful,  if  it  but  divert  our  thoughts  from  God.  But 
the  right  criterion,  the  true  way  of  bringing  this  matter  to 
the  proof,  were  to  ascertain  what  the  feeling  is  should  God 
stand  fully  before  us.  We  do  not  expect  that  He  will 
show  Himself  to  us  as  He  did  to  the  patriarch  Job,  who 
had  only  before  heard  of  Him  with  the  hearing  of  the  ear, 
but  after  he  beheld  Him  with  his  eyes,  was  overwhelmed 
in  the  presence  of  His  sacred  and  august  majesty  with  the 
sense  of  his  own  exceeding  vilenesss,  and  repented  himself 
in  dust  and  in  ashes.  Now,  we  can  not  bid  ourselves  thus 
take  an  earnest  look  of  God  ;  but  we  can  bid  ourselves 
take  an  earnest  thought  of  Him.  Only  let  Him  be  the 
true  God  whom  we  thus  set  before  the  eye  of  our  minds, 
and  not  a  god  of  our  own  deceitful  imagination — for  to 
be  at  peace  with  such  a  God,  or  even  to  have  some  sort 
of  sentimental  regard  for  Him,  were  just  as  natural  as  for 
the  literal  worshipper  of  images  to  have  a  fondness  or  a 
fancy  for  the  idol  of  his  own  making.  It  is  to  the  real 
God  that  we  ought  to  look — not  the  god  of  our  own  imag- 
ination, that  feigned  or  factitious  deity  who  is  just  as  much 
an  idol  as  if  made  of  brass  or  of  stone — being  nothing 
more  than  an  ideal   representation  of  our  Maker.      To 


THE  DISEASE.  433 


make  the  experiQient  a  fair  one,  it  is  the  true  and  h' vino- 
God  whom  we  must  entertain  the  thought  of — God  as  set 
forth  in  the  Bible  which  we  should  earnestly  read,  or  as 
set  forth  by  the  faithful  expounder  of  the  Bible  whom  we 
should  earnestly  listen  to.  It  is  not  the  god  of  mere  poetry, 
whether  ancient  or  modern,  who  can  decide  this  question  ; 
neither  is  it  the  god  of  those  who  reject  the  Bible,  or  what 
is  just  as  bad,  who  pervert  the  Bible,  and  have  thus,  at  the 
bidding  of  a  meager  superficial  theology,  turned  them  to  a 
god  of  their  own  making.  They  may  bear  no  hatred  in 
their  hearts  towards  such  a  god  ;  but  what  we  ask  and 
wish  them  to  ascertain  is,  How  they  feel  toward  the  God 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  even  as  exhibited  and  set 
forth  in  His  own  actual  revelation — for  example,  when  He 
claims  the  rightful  property  and  supreme  affection  of  those 
whom  He  has  made,  and  complains  that  of  this  property 
He  has  been  altogether  robbed  by  the  neglect  and  indif- 
ference of  creatures  who  do  not  care  for  Him — who  tells 
us  that  the  love  of  the  world  is  opposite  to  the  love  of  Him 
who  made  the  world  ;  and  that  when  we  set  our  hearts 
on  any  created  thing  more  than  on  Himself,  we  are  making 
a  god  of  our  pleasure,  or  a  god  of  our  wealth,  or  a  god 
of  our  ease,  or,  in  short,  a  divinity  of  our  own  taste  and 
our  own  will,  and  that  in  the  preference  we  give  to  these, 
we  have  as  good  as  fallen  down  to  the  worship  of  other 
gods,  and  in  forsaking  Him  who  is  the  fountain  of  living 
waters,  have  incurred  the  guilt  and  are  liable  to  all  the 
vengeance  which  is  due  to  idolatry.  How  is  it  that  we 
feel  when  we  set  our  faces  in  steady  contemplation  towards 
such  a  God  ? — who  challenges  for  Himself  an  entire  mas- 
tery over  both  the  outer  and  the  inner  man,  saying  to  each 
of  us.  My  son,  give  me  thy  heart — for  he  will  be  satisfied 
with  nothing  less ;  and  moved  to  jealousy  when  less  is 
given,  lets  us  know  that  He  is  a  God  who"  will  not  be 
mocked  with  a  lame  or  imperfect  offering.  And  so,  in  the 
language  of  the  book  of  Psalms,  the  nations  who  forget 
Him  shall  be  turned  into  hell.  When  God  is  forced  on 
the  contemplation  of  the  mind  in  such  an  attitude  and  such 

VOL.  VII. — T 


434  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


a  character  as  this,  which,  after  all,  is  the  true  attitude  in 
which  He  stands  forth,  and  the  true,  the  actual  character 
which  belongs  to  Him — when  thus  seen  as  He  really  is, 
how  is  the  mind  affected  towards  Him?  No  wonder  if 
we  are  unconscious  of  all  felt  hostility  so  long  as  we  do 
not  think  of  Him,  for  this  holds  true  of  the  deadUest  enemy 
that  we  have  in  this  world — quite  at  peace  with  him  all 
the  time  that  he  is  out  of  sight  and  out  of  thought,  and  yet 
the  object  of  our  most  fixed  antipathy  notwithstanding,  as 
becomes  manifest  every  time  he  reappears,  whether  to 
sense  or  to  memory,  when,  whether  in  the  form  of  dread 
or  of  despite  and  hatred,  the  revolt  of  the  heart  against 
him  is  instantly  awakened.  Now  it  is  by  this  very  criterion 
that  we  should  decide  the  question  of  our  feeling  or  incli- 
nation toward  God — not  by  the  state  of  our  mind  when 
we  are  not  regarding  Him,  but  by  the  state  of  our  mind 
when  He  is  any  way  obtruded  on  our  regard,  whether 
through  the  Bible  itself,  or  through  the  sermon  of  that 
minister  who  is  a  faithful  expounder  of  its  lessons.  When 
set  forth  thus,  not  in  the  colors  of  our  own  fancy,  but  as 
the  true  and  scriptural  God,  claiming  the  supreme  love  of 
His  creatures  ;  asking,  what  every  earthly  parent  feels  to 
be  his  right,  the  place  which  belongs  to  him  in  the  affections 
of  his  own  children  ;  complaining  as  if  robbed  of  His  dues, 
because  the  gifts  that  He  has  showered  upon  us  with  His 
own  hands  have  seduced  our  carnal  hearts  from  Himself 
the  giver ;  demanding  such  a  revolution,  or  call  it  such  a 
revulsion  of  our  tastes,  that,  better  than  all  the  fair  or 
fancied  objects  of  this  smiling  world,  must  we  love  Him 
who  made  the  world,  so  as  that  our  love,  our  present  warm 
and  natural  love  for  the  things  of  sense  and  of  time,  must 
give  way,  or  at  least  be  subordinated  to  our  love  of  Him 
who  made  all  and  owns  all — a  change  so  mighty  that  they 
who  undergo  it  are  said  to  have  become  new  creatures,  or 
to  have  been  born  again.  When  God  is  thus  made  to  stand 
before  us  in  His  uncompromising  sacredness,  intolerant  of 
our  preference  for  the  things  which  His  own  hands  have 
made  over  Him  the  maker — when  these  high  and  surely 


THE  DISEASE.  435 


most  righteous  pretensions  are  urged  upon  us,  whether  by 
the  Bible  or  the  preacher  who  will  not  let  us  alone — then 
begins  the  death-struggle  of  the  natural  man  against  the 
true  religion ;  or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  against  the  true 
God  who  asks,  and  on  the  pain  of  eternal  damnation,  this 
religion  at  our  hands.  And  let  us  now  see,  when  thus 
charged  and  thus  threatened  for  living  without  God,  whether 
the  reaction  and  the  revolt  of  our  spirits  do  not  prove  a 
great  deal  more— even  that  with  all  our  heart,  soul,  and 
mind,  we  are  against  God.  This  required  surrender  of  all 
that  is  dearest  to  life  is  felt  as  painful  as  would  be  the  sur- 
render of  life  itself;  and  thus  with  all  the  intensity  of  a 
contest  that  is  mortal,  does  nature  withstand  the  Christian- 
ity that  requires  it.  Such  an  evangelism  as  this  is  utterly 
nauseated  by  the  men  of  the  world,  and  not  only  branded 
as  Methodism,  so  as  to  be  exiled  and  put  forth  of  particular 
societies,  but  for  the  purpose  of  its  expulsion  from  whole 
communities  or  states,  has  had  the  fires  of  persecution 
lighted  up  against  it.  If  we  let  men  alone,  they  will  pass 
quietly  and  inoffensively  through  life  as  the  mere  forgetters 
of  God.  It  is  when  called  forth  or  provoked  because  not 
let  alone,  they  they  are  made  to  stand  forth  in  their  true 
characters  as  the  enemies  or  the  haters  of  God. 

20.  We  have  thus  endeavored  to  establish  both  charges, 
and  to  make  palpable  now  what  will  be  fully  manifested  on 
that  day  when  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be  laid  open — 
even  that  the  heart  of  every  natural  man  is  both  without 
God  and  against  God.  The  moral  enormity  of  such  a  state 
is  more  properly  the  theme  of  a  future  argument.  We  shall 
therefore  conclude  for  the  present  with  one  remark.  If  it 
be  indeed  true  of  all  men  that  they  are  both  the  forgetters 
and  the  haters  of  God,  let  us  hear  no  longer  of  one  man 
being  better  than  another  because  of  his  natural  virtues  ; 
or  that  because  a  good  citizen  of  the  world,  he  is  therefore 
fitted  for  the  citizenship  of  heaven.  This  is  saying  no  more 
than  that  the  summit  of  a  mountain  on  earth  is  nearer  than 
its  base  to  the  sun  in  the  firmament — while  to  all  sense 
equal,  because  of  the  insignificance  of  all  terrestrial  dis- 


436  LXSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

tances  when  brought  to  the- high  standard  of  astronomy: 
And  thus  it  is,  that  on  the  high  moral  standard  of  the  upper 
sanctuary,  all  men  will  be  found  to  have  fallen  immeasur- 
ably beneath  the  perfection  of  the  Divine  law;  and  that 
fhaving  lived  their  whole  lives  long  at  a  distance  from  the 
Father  of  their  spirits,  and  been  all  the  while  breakers  of 
the  first  and  greatest  commandment — they  are  all  of  them 
the  children  of  deepest  guilt,  because  one  and  all  the  chil- 
dren of  ungodliness. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ON  THE  SCRIPTURAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  ORIGIN  OF  HUMAN 
DEPRAVITY. 

1.  We  confine  ourselves  to  the  scriptural  account  of  the 
introduction  of  sin  into  the  world — for  v^e  possess  no  other 
which  can  be  at  all  relied  on.  There  are  vestiges  in  Pagan 
antiquity,  in  certain  of  its  mythological  visions,  and  even 
the  writings  of  its  philosophers  and  poets,  wherein  we  may 
descry  so  great  a  resemblance  to  the  Bible  history  of  the 
Fall,  that  they  have  been  appealed  to  by  the  learned  as 
confirmatory  of  the  Mosaic  narrative.  The  likeness,  how- 
ever, in  our  estimation  is  so  very  distant,  that  it  would  re- 
quire almost  an  effort  of  the  fancy  to  recognize  it.  These 
heathen  traditions,  if  they  have  really  proceeded  from  the 
original  truth  as  their  source  and  their  center — like  the 
emanation  at  length  of  a  far-distant  luminary — have  died 
away  into  such  faintness  and  feebleness  as  to  be  now 
scarcely  discernible.  They  have  at  last  gathered  upon 
them  such  an  air  of  the  fabulous  and  the  legendary,  that 
we  feel  it  no  advantage  in  the  way  of  evidence,  or  for  at 
all  strengthening  the  Christian  argument,  to  dwell  upon 
them.  It  is  certainly  well  that  the  historical  of  our  Scrip- 
tures, from  first  to  last,  should  be  in  such  general  good 
keeping  with  the  history  and  literature  of  the  world  at  large. 
But  we  confess  no  great  value  for  these  moonlight  and 
shadowy  reflections,  when  compared  with  the  distinct  and 
specific  statements  to  which  w^e  are  conducted  in  the  light 
of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  revelations — substantiated  as 
they  each  are  by  a  direct  and  proper  evidence  of  their  own. 
We  shall  therefore  pass  over  in  this  argument,  not  only 
the  alleged  allegoric  representations  of  Greek  and  Roman 
authors,  but  also  the  reveries  of  Hindooism,  and  even  the 
records  of  a  serpent-worship  in  various  nations  of  the  world, 


438  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

which  has  been  plausibly  and  ingeniously  traced  upward 
to  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  will  keep  by  the  records  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments.  The  proper  time,  indeed,  for 
the  things  which  we  now  turn  away  from,  is  in  a  discussion 
on  the  evidences  of  our  faith  ;  and  not,  as  at  present,  when 
we  are  employed  in  the  examination  of  its  subject-matter. 
2.  The  first  account,  then,  we  have  of  sin's  entrance  into 
our  world,  is  in  the  third  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Genesis. 
True,  it  is  not  there  said  that  Adam's  first  sin  entailed  a 
sinfulness,  not  only  on  himself,  but  on  all  his  posterity.  But 
it  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  in  this  record  of  man's  earliest 
transgression,  there  are  certain  consequences  of  the  Fall 
spoken  of,  which  were  not  confined  to  the  immediate  agents 
in  that  dread  and  fatal  transaction,  but  which  were  laid  in 
common  upon  them  and  upon  all  their  descendants.  Even 
the  curse  pronounced  upon  the  serpent,  though  it  had  a 
higher  fulfillment  in  the  discomfiture  and  overthrow  of  that 
arch-fiend  who  entered  the  animal,  and  made  him  the  organ 
of  his  own  infernal  machinations ;  yet  has  this  curse  had  a 
fulfillment  too,  not  only  on  the  animal  himself,  but  on  all 
the  future  individuals  of  the  species — in  being  degraded 
beneath  all  cattle  and  every  beast  of  the  field — cast  down, 
it  would  appear,  from  their  original  and  higher  rank  into 
the  tribe  of  reptiles,  condemned  thenceforward  to  go  upon 
their  belly,  and  to  eat  dust  all  the  days  of  their  life.  To 
this  sentence  reference  is  made  in  other  parts  of  the  Bible, 
as  by  Isaiah,  when,  in  describing  the  state  and  circumstances 
of  a  far-distant  futurity,  he  tells  that  dust  shall  be  the  ser- 
pent's meat;  and  by  Micah,  when,  in  speaking  of  judgments 
to  be  inflicted  on  the  nations,  he  says  they  shall  lick  the 
dust  like  a  serpent.  But  it  interests  us  more  nearly  to  ob- 
serve, that,  in  awarding  retribution  to  each  of  the  parties 
which  shared  in  the  crime  of  that  eventful  day,  there  is  the 
same  aggregate  method  of  dealing,  not  with  our  first  pa- 
rents alone,  but  with  the  whole  human  family  that  proceed- 
ed from  them.  It  was  not  to  Eve  only,  but  to  all  the  future 
mothers  of  our  race,  that  God  said,  "I  will  greatly  multiply 
thy  sorrow  and  thy  conception  ;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  bring 


THE  DISEASE.  439 


forth  children,  and  thy  husband  shall  rule  over  thee."  The 
apostle  tells  us  that  the  woman  had  fallen  in  a  way  that 
the  man  had  not,  had  fallen  into  the  transgression  ;  but 
this  transgression,  which  was  properly  and  immediately 
hers,  brought  a  punishment  along  with  it  on  women  of  all 
generations.  Again,  it  was  not  individual  Adam  alone  who 
suffered  because  of  the  curse  laid  upon  the  ground — cursed, 
it  is  said,  for  thy  sake — yet  a  curse  felt  not  by  him  only, 
but  by  his  posterity  in  all  ages,  who,  in  the  great  and  gen- 
eral mass,  are  doomed  to  a  life  of  hard  labor,  eating  in  sor- 
row all  the  days  of  their  life,  and  at  length  consigned  to 
the  dust  out  of  which  their  progenitor  was  taken.  This 
w^as  said  to  him  individually  ;  but  in  the  unsparing  and 
unexcepted  death  which  comes  upon  every  man,  w^e  find 
it  fulfilled  on  all  universally.  It  is  not  said  here  that  be- 
cause Adam  sinned,  all  will  sin  also;  but  we  most  assuredly 
gather  that  because  Adam  sinned  all  wall  suffer.  It  is  be- 
cause the  first  man  sinned  that  all  men  die. 

3.  This  information,  that  all  the  men  who  are  born  suffer 
because  of  Adam's  transgression,  may  prepare  and  perhaps 
reconcile  us  to  the  distinct  information — that  all  the  men 
who  are  born  sin  because  of  Adam's  transgression.  But 
it  is  from  other  passages  of  the  Bible  that  this  last  informa- 
tion is  gotten — that  is,  not  only  that  the  mortality  of  all, 
but  that  the  sinfulness  of  all  is  the  universal  consequent  of 
Adam  having  sinned ;  as  if  by  his  first  disobedience  there 
was  the  striking  out  of  a  fountain,  whence  the  moral  virus 
has  flowed  out  in  a  descending  stream  upon  all  the  men  of 
all  future  generations — so  as  to  verify  the  description  which 
the  Psalmist  gives  of  himself,  that  he  was  born  in  sin,  and 
shapen  in  iniquity.  But  before  tracing  this  downward  in- 
fluence along  the  line  of  our  world's  history,  let  me  first 
remark  the  effect  of  his  first  sin  on  Adam  himself  It  was 
committed  in  the  violation  of  a  first  covenant,  which  he 
could  not  fail  to  know  that  he  had  broken ;  and  in  virtue 
of  which  he  must  have  recognized  himself  in  the  altogether 
new  character  of  a  transgressor  against  the  will  and  com- 
mandment of  his  Lawgiver.  He  would  henceforward  image 


440  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

forth  God  as  looking  to  him  with  an  altered  countenance ; 
and  the  instant  effect  would  be  an  altered  feeling  in  his 
own  bosom  toward  God.  This  revolution  in  his  state  would 
create  a  great  moral  revolution  in  his  heart — a  transition 
per  saltum  from  confidence  and  love,  to  the  diametrically 
opposite  affections  of  dread  and  distrust  and  alienation.  It 
is  thus  that  by  his  one  act  of  disobedience,  he  became  un- 
fitted for  the  only  obedience  that  is  of  any  worth  in  Heav- 
en's estimation — that  free  and  hopeful  and  rejoicing  obe- 
dience, which,  with  the  burden  of  an  unsettled  controversy 
upon  his  spirits,  was  utterly  impossible.  As  surely  as  he 
recoiled  in  person  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  God  when 
walking  in  the  garden — so  surely  would  his  mind  recoil 
from  the  thought  of  Him.  The  history  of  this  fatal  change, 
as  given  in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  accords  with  the  philosophy 
thereof  as  grounded  on  the  laws  and  constitution  of  human 
nature.  We  read  that  when  Adam  heard  the  voice  of  God, 
he  was  afraid  and  hid  himself  As  it  is  said  of  perfect  love 
that  it  casteth  out  fear — so  fear,  this  fear  of  terror,  would 
cast  out  love.  Obedience  would  thus  be  uprooted  in  its 
principle ;  and  the  mind  thus  desolated  of  what  was  before 
its  great  and  reigning  affection,  would  try  to  replace  the 
painful  void  by  seeking  to  other  objects  of  other  affections ; 
and  in  the  pursuit  or  enjoyment  of  them  would  be  glad  to 
forget  all  thought  of  him  to  whom  the  conscious  delinquent 
could  not  look  but  with  uneasiness  and  dismay.  It  is  then 
that  the  great  master  sin  of  ungodliness  takes  possession 
of  the  heart ;  and  between  the  prerogatives,  on  the  one 
hand,  of  God's  violated  law,  and  the  practical  atheism,  on 
the  other,  of  a  creature  who,  having  lost  all  hope  and  so 
living  without  Him  in  the  world,  has  turned  to  his  own  will 
and  his  own  way — there  ensues  a  deadly  breach,  an  ever- 
widening  gulf  of  separation  between  guilty  man  and  the 
Author  of  his  being,  whose  hands  made  and  fashioned  him, 
and  whose  right  hand  upholds  him  continually. 

4.  This  is  the  change  which  would  take  place  upon  Adam 
himself  in  Paradise,  and  before  he  was  expelled  from  it. 
To  see  how  the  matter  sped  out  of  paradise,  we  have  only 


THE  DISEASE.  441 


to  pursue  the  history  downward,  or  ascertain  all  that  might 
be  gathered  on  the  subject  of  our  present  argument  from 
the  statements  of  inspired  men.  We  have  already  pre- 
sented a  few  decisive  testimonies  from  the  Bible  to  the 
actual  or  existing  depravity,  and  that  universal,  too,  of  the 
human  species  ;  but  what  we  have  now  to  do  with  is  not 
the  existence,  it  is  the  origin  of  this  depravity,  whereof  we 
have  no  obscure  intimation  in  the  account  which  Scripture 
gives  of  an  early  birth  that  took  place  in  the  world — even 
that  of  Seth,  from  whom,  through  Noah,  whose  family  alone 
were  preserved  in  the  otherwise  universal  destruction  of 
the  flood,  all  the  men  of  the  earth  were  descended.  We 
read  of  Adam,  that  he  was  created  in  the  image  of  God — 
that  image,  as  the  apostle  tells,  which  after  God  is  created 
in  righteousness  and  true  holiness.  "  In  the  day  that  God 
created  man,  in  the  likeness  of  God  made  he  him."  (Gen. 
V.  1.)  "The  image  and  glory  of  God.  (1  Cor.  xi.  7.)  And 
so  we  read  of  Adam  that  he  was  created  after  the  image 
of  God,  but  of  Seth,  that  he  was  born  after  the  image  of 
Adam — not  of  Adam  in  his  original,  but  of  Adam  in  his 
transformed  likeness.  After  that  Adam  was  a  hundred 
and  thirty  years  old,  he  "begat  a  son  in  his  own  likeness, 
after  his  image,  and  called  his  name  Seth"  (Gen.  v.  3),  who 
was  born  after  the  death  of  Abel,  being  appointed,  we  read, 
another  seed  instead  of  Abel,  whom  Cain  slew  (Gen.  iv.  25), 
not  only  born  then,  but  conceived  long  after  the  transgres- 
sion in  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  consequent  expulsion  of 
our  first  parents  from  that  place  of  security  and  blessed- 
ness. Here  then  we  have  the  first  descent  between  Adam 
and  our  existing  species,  marked  by  a  transition  of  the  same 
likeness  from  father  to  son — which  transition  we  have  only 
to  suppose  took  place  at  every  future  descent,  that  a  con- 
nection in  the  way  of  cause  and  consequent  may  be  estab- 
lished between  Adam's  first  sin  and  the  universal  sinfulness 
of  our  race,  comprising  not  only  men  of  all  generations, 
but  all  the  men  of  every  generation.  Certain  it  is  that  the 
effect,  the  universal  effect,  is  strongly  deponed  to,  even  in 
the  brief  record  that  we  have  of  this  world's  history  be- 


442  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

tween  the  Fall  and  the  Flood,  before  which  latter  catas- 
trophe "  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great 
in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of 
his  heart  was  only  evil  continually,"  insomuch  that  "it  I'e- 
pented  the  Lord  that  he  had  made  man  upon  the  earth, 
and  it  grieved  him  at  his  heart.  And  the  Lord  said,  I  will 
destroy  man,  whom  I  have  created,  from  the  face  of  the 
earth."  (Gen.  vi.  5-7.)  "  The  earth  also  was  corrupt  be- 
fore God,  and  the  earth  was  filled  with  violence.  And  God 
looked  upon  the  earth,  and  behold  it  was  corrupt ;  for  all 
flesh  had  corrupted  his  way  upon  the  earth."  (Gen.  vi. 
11,  12.)  And  lest  it  should  be  deemed  an  exception  to  the 
universality  of  this  corruption  that  Noah  was  spared,  we 
are  expressly  told  that  he  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Lord.  He  is  one,  in  the  enumeration  by  the  apostlej  of 
those  who  were  saved  by  faith :  and  by  faith  that  it  might 
be  of  grace,  lest  he  or  any  man  should  boast.  But  we  do 
not  need  to  infer  argumentatively  what  we  know  histori- 
cally ;  and  from  a  recorded  depravity  of  Noah,  even  aftei 
so  great  a  deliverance  as  that  by  which  he  and  his  family 
were  signalized  (Gen.  ix.  21),  we  learn  that  even  he  fell 
short  of  the  absolute  perfection — that  even  he,  when  brought 
to  the  high  standard  of  an  unbending  law,  formed  no  ex- 
ception to  the  apostolic  averment  of  none  being  righteous, 
no  not  one.  We  cannot  imagine  a  more  complete  demon- 
stration than  what  is  furnished  by  this  history  of  a  univer- 
sally tainted  and  corrupt  species — all  swept  off  on  the  ex- 
press ground  that  all  had  corrupted  their  ways ;  and  this 
followed  up  by  a  flagrant  deed  of  corruption  on  the  part 
of  the  only  man  who,  along  with  his  family,  was  saved. 

5.  But  we  have  properly  to  do  at  present  not  with  this 
depravity  as  a  fact,  but  as  a  consequent ;  and  so  as  that 
we  might  be  guided  backward  to  the  origin  from  which  it 
sprung.  In  this  view  we  cannot  but  regard  as  of  moment- 
ous import  all  those  expressions  which  serve  to  connect 
the  actual  wickedness  of  man  with  a  tendency  to  wicked- 
ness from  his  youth  up,  and  by  which,  if  carried  far  enough 
back,  we  might  be  led  to  conclude  that  the  tendency  was 


THE  DISEASE.  41:3 


inborn,  and  characteristic  not  of  this  one  or  that  other 
individually,  but  generally  of  the  species,  and  belonging, 
therefore,  to  each  because  of  hereditary  descent,  and  so 
reahzed  by  all.  Should  this  be  made  good,  then  every 
man  is  a  sinner,  not  alone  through  example,  or  education, 
or  aught  that  was  merely  partial  and  accidental  and  con- 
tingent, but,  apart  from  and  independently^  of  these,  he  is  a 
sinner  solely  in  virtue  of  his  being  a  man,  or  because  he 
partakes  of  a  quahty  common  to  himself  and  all  his  pro- 
genitors, as  well  as  common  to  himself  and  all  his  human 
contemporaries,  who,  though  now  asunder  and  on  separate 
lines  of  descent,  yet  are  they  lines  which  diverge  from  the 
same  point,  and  issue  forth  of  the  same  parentage.  Now 
although  this  native  tendency — this  disposition,  coeval  with 
the  first  day  of  childhood,  be  not  expressly  affirmed  in  the 
Scriptural  narrative  of  the  antediluvian  times,  there  is  in 
the  following  sentence  a  close  approach  to  it  as  descriptive 
of  a  universal  bias,  and  uttered  by  God  on  the  occasion  of 
Noah's  offerings  immediately  after  the  flood : — "  And  the 
Lord  smelled  a  sweet  savor ;  and  the  Lord  said  in  his 
heart,  I  will  not  again  curse  the  ground  any  more  for  man's 
sake,  for  the  imagination  of  man's  heart  is  evil  from  his 
youth."  The  time  of  this  affirmation  bestows  a  special 
interest  upon  it — pronounced  after  that  the  population  of 
the  old  world  had  been  all  swept  away,  and  before  that 
the  earth  was  again  replenished  with  a  new  population. 
It  is  descriptive,  in  fact,  not  of  the  men  of  any  particular 
age,  whether  ancient  or  modern,  but  is  descriptive  of  the 
genus  man,  and  given  forth,  too,  at  a  time  when  there  were 
none  to  exemplify  it  but  Noah  and  his  family,  the  '•  eight 
souls  who  were  saved  by  water."  Yet  narrow  as  this 
channel  was,  it  proved  enough  for  the  transmission  of  the 
corrupt  virus  in  all  its  ancient  strength  from  the  genera- 
tions that  went  before  to  the  generations  that  came  after — 
a  sufficient  bridgeway  of  communication  by  which  the 
deadly  infection  was  carried  across  the  flood,  and  all  its 
waters  were  unable  to  wash  it  away.  Accordingly  we 
find  of  this  generic  property,  that,  adhesive  to  one  and  all 


444  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

of  the  human  race,  it  soon  reasserted  its  prevalence  and 
power  in  the  world ;  and  the  earth  had  only  to  be  filled 
anew  with  men,  to  be  the  scene  of  as  great  vice  and  vio- 
lence as  before.  It  is  true,  that,  out  from  this  mighty- 
aggregate  of  wickedness,  God  selected  a  family — ^just  as 
jNfoah  was  before  the  flood ;  but  as  his  salvation  was  of 
faith,  so  pre-eminently  w^as  that  of  Abraham,  the  father  of 
the  faithful ;  and  both  were  selected,  not  of  merit,  but 
because  each  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord.  Even 
they  were  neither  of  them  solitary  exceptions  from  the 
universal  sinfulness  ;  and  if  from  the  latter  of  these  two 
patriarchs,  we  look  to  his  descendants,  the  children  of 
Israel — the  nation  whom  God  had  signalized,  the  chosen 
and  peculiar  people  whom  He  had  taken  for  His  own — so 
far  from  exceptions  to  this  general  law  of  human  depravity, 
we  shall  find  the  most  flagrant  examples  of  it  among  their 
stifl'-necked  and  rebellious  generations.  The  whole  world, 
in  truth,  was  a  wide-extended  moral  desert,  in  which  not 
one  oasis  of  perfect  virtue  or  perfect  innocence  could  be 
found — so  that  the  inspired  apostle,  who  with  the  eye  of 
his  mind  went  up  and  down  in  it,  tells,  as  the  result  of  his 
survey,  that  the  whole  world  was  guilty  before  God,  and 
that  all,  both  Jews  and  gentiles,  were  under  sin. 

6.  But  the  transmission  of  this  sore  mental  disease,  as  if 
by  a  law  of  physical  necessity,  is  not  a  mere  inference 
from  history,  but  a  thing  of  direct  affirmation.  The  generic 
proposition  indeed  respecting  man  which  issued  from  the 
mouth  of  God  Himself,  may  be  so  regarded,  when  he  said 
"  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was 
only  evil  continually" — speaking  of  this  depravity  as  a 
thing  of  continuance,  or  of  progress  from  age  to  age,  or  of 
derivation  from  one  age  to  another,  and  so  carrying  us 
upward,  as  it  were,  to  a  fountain-head  at  the  first,  when  it 
made  its  first  appearance  in  our  world.  But  there  are 
other  and  more  explicit  assertions  of  this  truth — as  in  Job 
— "  Who  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  an  unclean?"  or  in 
the  Psalms,  where  even  the  man  according  to  God's  own 
heart  says  of  himself — "  I  was  shapen  in  iniquity,  and  in 


THE  DISEASE.  445 


sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me."  But  most  distinctly  and 
conclusively  of  all  by  the  apostle,  who  tells  in  language 
than  which  nothing  can  be  more  express,  that  "by  one 
maH  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so 
death  passed  upon  all  men  for  that  all  have  sinned ;"  that 
by  the  offense  of  one  many  were  dead,  insomuch  that  death 
reigned  universally,  and  all  men  came  into  condemnation ; 
— that  "by  the  disobedience  of  one  many  were  made  sin- 
ners ;" — that  "  by  man  came  death  ;"  and,  let  there  be  no 
mistake,  that  "in  Adam  all  die."  And  again,  "the  first 
man  is  of  the  earth  earthy ;" — "  as  is  the  earthy,  such  are 
they  also  that  are  earthy ; — ^"  we  have  borne  the  image  of 
the  earthy,"  an  image  so  stamped  on  every  child  of  nature 
that,  in  his  natural  state,  or  state  of  flesh  and  blood,  which 
is  also  called  his  corrupt  state,  he  cannot  inherit  the  king- 
dom of  God.  The  corruptible  and  the  mortal  are,  in  fact, 
commensurate  the  one  with  the  other — so  that  ere  heaven 
can  be  entered  by  us,  the  corruptible  must  put  on  incor- 
ruption,  even  as  the  mortal  must  put  on  immortality.  The 
one  is  co-extensive  with  the  other,  so  that,  because  of 
Adam's  sin  all  do  sin,  just  as  because  of  Adam's  sin  all 
must  die. 

7.  And  in  all  sound  Christian  philosophy  it  is  enough 
that  Scripture  tells  us  so ;  nor  in  the  face  of  such  authority 
is  it  for  us  to  doubt  of  it  as  a  thing  incredible.  But  what 
is  more,  there  is  not  even  room  to  wonder  at  it  as  a  thing 
unexampled  in  nature  or  experience.  The  truth  is,  that 
there  are  a  thousand  analogies  to  keep  it  in  countenance. 
It  is  perfectly  at  one  with  all  that  we  observe  of  like 
begetting  like,  whether  in  the  animal  or  vegetable  king- 
doms. That  the  offspring  of  Adam,  had  he  remained 
innocent  and  unfallen,  would  have  been  virtuous  and  un- 
tainted as  himself,  has  no  more  of  marvel  or  mystery  in  it, 
than  the  gentleness  of  the  dove,  or  faithfulness  of  the  dog, 
or  sagacity  of  the  elephant,  or  delicious  perfume  of  the 
rose,  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation,  the  uni- 
versal and  abiding  characteristics  of  the  species  to  which 
they  respectively  belong.     Or,  on  the  other  hand,  that  all 


446  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

men  should  inherit  the  selfish  and  earthly  bias  of  their 
progenitor  after  he  had  taken  on  another  hue — transformed 
and  deteriorated  by  the  transgression  into  which  he  fell — 
is  no  more  a  theme  for  astonishment  than  the  ferocity  of 
the  tiger,  or  the  poisonous  quality  of  the  foxglove,  which 
have  continued  the  same  throughout  all  ages.  The  laws 
of  physiological  succession  extend  alike  to  the  mental  and 
the  bodily;  and  we  but  walk  in  the  footsteps  of  enlightened 
science  when,  dismissing  our  own  preconceptions,  we  take 
our  lesson  in  both  either  from  our  own  observation  or  from 
credible  testimony,  and  whether  that  be  the  testimony  of 
our  fellow-men  or  of  an  authentic  revelation  from  God. 

8.  We  do  not  mean  to  affirm  that,  because  the  moral 
depravity  of  man  exists  within  him  in  the  form  of  a  con- 
stitutional quality,  it  is  therefore  of  the  same  unchanging 
character  or  aspect  with  any  of  those  natural  properties  by 
which  an  inferior  animal  or  a  vegetable  is  signalized. 
This  depravity  not  only  had  a  definite  origin,  but  all  history 
tells  of  its  progress,  and  that  the  exhibitions  of  it  vary  from 
age  to  age.  The  very  largeness  and  diversity  of  the 
human  powers,  and  an  influence  unknown  in  any  other 
species  of  living  creatures  upon  the  earth,  by  which  the 
habits  of  one  generation  are  made  to  operate  either  bale- 
fully  or  beneficially  on  the  habits  of  another — these  insure 
a  growth  and  an  expansion  and  a  development  to  any 
principle  or  tendency,  whether  good  or  evil,  which  may 
have  taken  rooted  possession  of  our  species.  Even  the 
mechanism  of  the  human  faculties  might  help  to  explain 
this,  and  so  as  in  a  great  measure  to  account  for  the  darker 
and  deeper  degeneracy  into  which  men  fell,  step  by  step, 
and  of  which  we  have  a  frightful  description  by  Paul  in 
the  first  chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the  Romans.  The  sense 
and  terrors  of  guilt  would  naturally  incline  men  to  make 
their  escape  from  the  very  thought  of  God.  They  did  not 
like  to  retain  Him  in  their  knowledge,  and  so  God,  it  is 
said,  gave  them  over  to  vile  affections  and  to  a  reprobate 
mind.  The  understanding  and  the  will  acted  and  re-acted 
on  each  other.    On  the  one  hand,  their  blinded  understand- 


THE  DISEASE.  447 


ings  vitiated  the  will ;  and  on  the  other,  a  depraved  v^ill 
perverted  the  understanding — two  effects  which  are  im- 
plicated together  in  the  single  expression,  that  their  foolish 
heart  was  darkened.  And  so,  with  headlong  descent,  they 
lapsed  into  a  degrading  idolatry  and  most  degrading  vices 
— their  theology  and  their  morals  being  alike  impure — till 
the  earth  was  filled  with  all  unrighteousness  and  malice 
and  contentions  and  abominable  licentiousness. 

9.  We  may  here  advert  to  the  distinction  made  by  theo- 
logians between  original  and  actual  sin.  Even  apart  from 
the  Scriptural  account  of  the  origin  of  sin,  or  rather  of  its 
entry  into  our  world,  it  is  a  distinction  into  which  we 
might  have  fallen,  though  with  nothing  to  direct  us  but  the 
light  of  our  own  observation.  We  could  not,  in  fact,  with 
aught  like  a  habit  of  generalization  and  philosophy,  but 
have  found  our  way  to  it.  On  the  induction  of  man's 
actual  sins  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  would  have  been 
founded.  When  we  say  that  all  men  have  sinned,  it  is  on 
the  basis  of  their  actual  sins  that  we  are  enabled  to  speak 
in  terms  of  such  generality.  When  we  say  that  in  all 
men  there  is  a  prior  tendency  to  sin,  we  are  but  resolving 
this  general  fact  into  its  principle  or  cause.  We  are  but 
giving  a  compendious  or  summary  expression  of  it.  When 
we  speak  of  an  original  ferocity  in  the  tiger,  we  mean  that, 
in  virtue  of  a  native  and  hereditary  disposition,  and  at  the 
same  time  universal,  each  individual  of  the  species  will, 
when  the  time  and  opportunity  come  round,  break  forth 
into  deeds  of  ferocity.  These  deeds  make  up  the  actual 
cruelties  of  this  tribe  of  animals — a  prior  tendency  to  these 
existing  in  embryo  at  the  birth,  but  sure  to  develop  itself 
in  the  future  history  of  each ;  and  it  is  this  prior  tendency 
which  we  should  denominate  the  original  cruelty  of  their 
nature.  We  proceed  on  the  same  distinction  when  we 
speak  at  one  time  of  the  sins  and  at  another  of  the  sinful- 
ness of  men.  Each  crab-tree  brings  forth  sour  apples. 
There  is  an  organic  necessity  for  this  in  the  very  make 
and  constitution  of  the  plant  —  bound  up  with  the  first 
germ,  whethier  it  be  sapling,  or  seed,  or  acorn,  in  which 


448  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

each  takes  its  rise,  and  in  virtue  of  which,  should  it  arrive 
at  a  maturity  and  a  produce,  it  will  evince  in  the  sourness 
of  its  fruit  the  law  of  that  species  to  which  it  belongs. 
Thus,  too,  there  is  an  original  and  an  actual  in  the  sins  of 
men — a  prior  tendency  to  sin,  bound  up,  as  it  were,  in  the 
very  frame  and  composition  of  humanity — an  element 
within  the  receptacles  of  every  infant's  bosom,  and  which, 
should  he  live  long  enough  for  its  expansion  and  its  forth- 
goings^  will  infallibly  yield  in  every  instance  the  bitter 
fruit  of  transgression. 

,  10.  It  is  thus  that  we  could  have  reasoned  from  actual 
to  original  sin,  even  apart  from  revelation — just  as  we 
reason  from  an  effect  to  its  cause,  or  from  any  number  of 
facts  having  the  same  common  quality,  to  the  common 
principle  which  originated  and  so  comprehends  them  all. 
We  did  not  need  the  informations  of  Scripture  to  teach  us 
that  a  universal  sinning  on  the  part  of  our  species  argued 
a  universal  sinfulness ;  and  which  sinfulness  too,  we  could, 
without  the  help  of  Scripture,  have  denominated  a  prior 
tendency.  But  we  could  not,  without  its  help,  have  learned 
how  or  in  what  circumstances  it  was  that  this  tendency 
first  came  into  our  world — that  was  inserted  in  the  consti- 
tution of  Adam  and  Eve  on  their  first  act  of  disobedience 
to  God,  and  by  them  transmitted  with  unfailing  succession 
to  all  their  posterity.  This  is  an  information  which  we 
owe  altogether  to  the  Bible ;  and  it  possesses  a  theological 
importance  which,  at  the  present  stage  of  our  course,  we 
are  not  prepared  fully  to  explain  ; — suffice  it  to  say,  that  as 
it  tells  how  by  the  sin  of  one  man  all  men  who  stand  to 
him  in  a  certain  relation  (that  of  descendants)  have  both 
sinned  and  suffered  ;  so  it  may  prepare  us  for  the  counter- 
part statement,  that  by  the  righteousness  of  one,  all  men 
who  stand  to  him  in  some  certain  relation,  might  perhaps 
in  consequence  attain  both  to  a  righteousness  and  its  re- 
ward. I  purposely  state  the  matter  thus  generally  now ; 
and  will  only  advert  to  the  parallelism  instituted  in  the 
sacred  Scriptures  between  Adam  and  Christ,  which,  for 
aught  we  know,  might  confer  a  doctrinal  magnitude  on  the 


THE  DISEASE.  449 


history  of  the  Fall,  greatly  exceeding  what  superficially, 
or  at  first  sight,  we  might  be  disposed  to  apprehend. 

11.  But  it  were  shutting  our  eyes  to  a  most  important 
passage  of  this  Bible  narrative  did  we  stop  short  at  Adam, 
and  keep  out  of  view  the  part  which  a  higher  agent  had  in 
the  moral  ruin  of  our  world.  For  our  knowledge  of  his 
existence  we  are  indebted  exclusively  to  revelation :  and 
I  need  not  insist  on  the  violation  which  it  would  imply  of 
all  sound  philosophy,  to  deny  in  the  face  of  evidence  what 
is  utterly  beyond  the  range  of  our  direct  and  personal 
observation,  and  which  we  have  no  possible  means  of  dis- 
proving. Let  the  information  have  been  ridiculed  as  it 
may,  it  were  as  presumptuously  speculative  in  us  to  deny 
that  there  is  a  great  infernal  spirit,  as  to  deny  that  there 
are  inhabitants  in  the  planet  of  Jupiter.  Both  regions  are 
ulterior  to  any  distinct  or  decisive  perception  of  ours  ;  and 
if,  on  the  one  question,  it  were  arrogance  to  set  ourselves 
in  opposition  to  the  probabilities  of  nature — on  the  other, 
it  were  a  surpassing  arrogance  to  set  ourselves  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  certainties  of  a  well-authenticated  revelation. 
I  will  attempt  no  collection  of  the  testimonies  which  might 
be  gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  Bible  to  the  existence  of 
Satan,  who  is  there  made  known  to  us  as  the  adversary  of 
all  righteousness  ;  and  who,  in  the  prosecution  of  his  hos- 
tile and  malignant  policy,  did  interpose  at  the  creation  of 
our  world,  and  succeeded  in  seducing  our  first  parents 
from  their  allegiance  to  God.  What  we  are  now  con- 
cerned with  is  the  reality  of  this  single  act — his  temptation 
of  Eve  in  paradise  ;  and  for  the  first  scriptural  proof,  we 
appeal  to  the  narrative  itself  in  the  book  of  Genesis.  Surely 
a  supernatural  and  far  superior  agency  to  that  of  a  serpent 
was  then  at  work.  But,  as  if  to  defeat  the  notion  of  an 
allegory,  there  are  distinct  references  made  to  it  in  other 
parts  of  sacred  writ  as  an  historical  event ;  and  which 
serve  to  point  out  this  fallen  spirit  as  having  had  intimately 
to  do  with  the  moral  state  and  destinies  of  our  race — inso- 
much, that  while  it  was  the  success  of  his  first  enterprise 
which  achieved  our  ruin,  it  is  his  final  overthrow  which 


450  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

completes  and  consummates  our  recovery.  But  at  present 
we  only  select  those  passages  which  go  to  authenticate 
the  Mosaic  account  of  the  transgression  in  the  garden  of 
Eden : — "  He  laid  hold  on  the  dragon,  that  old  serpent, 
which  is  the  Devil,  and  Satan,  and  bound  him  a  thousand 
years."  (Rev.  xx.  2.)  We  cannot  read  of  him  being  thus 
named,  without  recurring  to  the  narrative  of  his  temptation. 
And  so  in  the  quotation — "  And  the  great  dragon  was  cast 
out,  that  old  serpent,  called  the  Devil,  and  Satan,  which 
deceiveth  the  whole  world."  (Rev.  xii.  9.)  But  more  ex- 
plicit still  is  the  following — "  I  fear,,  lest  by  any  means,  as 
the  serpent  beguiled  Eve  through  his  subtilty,  so  your 
minds  should  be  corrupted  from  the  simplicity  that  is  in 
Christ."  (2  Cor.  xi.  3.)  And  finally  we  read  in  1  Tim.  ii. 
14,  of  the  woman  having  been  deceived,  which  implies  a 
deceiver — the  same,  doubtless,  who  is  represented  as  de- 
ceiving the  nations,  and  deceiving  the  whole  world — he 
who  tempted  Adam  in  the  garden,  and  succeeded — he  who 
tempted  Christ  in  the  wilderness,  and  failed — of  whom  we 
are  told  that  he  goeth  about  as  a  raging  lion,  seeking  whom 
he  may  devour  ;  whose  devices  are  manifold  (2  Cor.  ii.  11), 
and  the  great  instrument  of  whose  ascendency  over  men 
is  the  deceitfulness  of  sin. 

12.  It  is  the  more  indispensable  to  look  in  all  its  promi- 
nency at  the  part  which  Satan  bore  in  the  corruption  of 
our  species  by  sin,  else  we  can  have  no  adequate  view,  in 
one  of  its  great  aspects,  of  that  enterprise  on  which  Christ 
set  forth,  when  He  undertook  the  world's  salvation.  The 
object  on  which  He  came  was  the  overthrow  of  Satan. 
The  contest,  it  would  appear,  between  the  powers  of  good 
and  evil  in  our  world,  is  somehow  implicated  with  the 
higher  politics  of  the  universe.  There  are  mighty  poten- 
tates, though  to  us  invisible,  engaged  in  a  warfare,  which 
has  for  its  object  the  moral  ascendency  of  the  one  or  the 
otker,  over  the  family  of  mankind.  For  this  we  shall  not 
quote  the  numerous  intimations  of  the  Old  Testament,  be- 
ginning with  an  ordination  of  God  at  the  very  time  of  the 
Fall,  by  which  He  put  enmity  between  the  seed  of  the 


THE  DISEASE.  451 


woman  and  the  seed  of  the  serpent — the  one  to  bruise  the 
heel  of  his  adversary,  or  to  have  partial  advantages  over 
Him ;  the  other  to  bruise  the  head,  and  so  to  be  crowned 
at  length  with  an  ultimate  and  decisive  victory.     Such  a 
character  given  to  the  outset  of  this  wondrous  history, 
should  not  be  lost  sight  of  as  we  trace  the  progress  of  it. 
Most  assuredly,  it  is  not  lost  sight  of  in  the  Bible.     There 
we  have  no  dubious  or  uncertain  glimpses  of  it,  but  clear 
and  decisive  manifestations.     For  passing  over  the  numer- 
ous references  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  more  especially 
in  the  prophets,  where  the  achievement  of  our  redemption 
is  described  as  the  result  of  a  strenuous  contest,  effected  by 
the  might  of  a  great  Conqueror,  who  traveled  in  the  great- 
ness of  His  strength,  and  the  salvation  of  whose  redeemed 
was  brought  to  Him  by  the  prowess  of  His  own  arm  in  a 
day  of  vengeance  upon  His  enemies — passing  over  all  that 
we  find  in  the  earlier  Scriptures,  what  can  be  more  explicit 
than  the  testimonies  beyond  reckoning,  upon  this  subject, 
from  the  writings  of  the  apostles  ?     That  was  an  obvious 
trial  of  strength  which  took  place  between  Christ  and  Satan 
in  the  wilderness — and  His  miraculous  dispossessions  were 
effected,  not  as  the  Jews  did  blasphemously  affirm,  by,  but 
against  the  prince  of  the  devils ;  and  the  "Get  thee  behind 
me,  Satan,"  was  a  proof  that  while  appearing  to  remon- 
strate only  with  men,  He  was  in  fact  resisting  the  great 
deceiver  of  men ;  and  the  exclamation  of  triumphant  joy, 
"  I  beheld'Satan  fall  as  lightning  from  heaven,"  is  the  indi- 
cation of  a  supernal  conflict  beyond  the  ken  or  the  sight  of 
mortal  eye ;  and  the  direct  instigation  by  Satan  of  Judas 
the  betrayer  of  our  Saviour,  proves  that  the  conflict  was 
reciprocal,  and  that  while  on  earth  He  had  to  do  with  a 
plotting  and  a  counterworking  advers-ary.    But  the  artifices 
of  his  wicked  and  mischievous  policy  have  not  terminated 
with  the  ascension  of  Him  who  is  the  Captain  of  our  sal- 
vation ;  for  we  read  of  Satan  having  filled  the  heart  of 
Ananias  to  lie  to  the  Holy  Ghost :  and  he  still  holds  sover- 
eignty wherever  the  gospel  has  not  dispossessed  him  of  it 
—for  the  express  object  of  this  gospel,  in  turning  men  from 


452  INSTITUTES  OP  THEOLOGY. 

darkness  to  light,  is  to  turn  them  from  the  power  of  Satan 
unto  God.  He  is  not  yet  conclusively  placed  under  the 
feet  of  our  great  spiritual  Conqueror,  for  though  the  promise 
have  been  given,  its  fulfillment  is  still  in  reserve — that  the 
God  of  peace  should  bruise  Satan  under  our  feet  shortly. 
And  the  contest  is  not  yet  ended.  There  are  precepts  of 
standing  obligation  in  the  Bible,  which  imply  a  continued 
warfare  on  the  part  of  Satan  against  the  Church  of  God, 
and  by  which  Christians  are  directed  how  to  acquit  them- 
selves under  it.  In  one  place  what  they  are  to  do  that 
Satan  tempt  them  not  (1  Cor.  vii.  5)  ;  in  another,  what 
was  done  for  them  by  an  apostle,  lest  Satan  should  get  an 
advantage  of  them,  their  spiritual  guide  and  guardian  not 
being  ignorant  of  his  devices,  (2  Cor.  ii.  11)  ;  in  another, 
that  one  of  these  devices  of  Satan  is  to  transform  himself 
into  an  angel  of  light  (2  Cor.  xi.  14) ;  in  another,  Christ's 
disciples  are  told  not  to  "give  place  to  the  devil"  (Eph.  iv. 
27)  ;  in  another,  Paul  complains  that  Satan  hindered  his 
coming  to  visit  the  Thessalonians  (1  Thess.  ii.  18)  ;  in 
another,  he  affirms  of  certain  of  his  followers  that  they  had 
"turned  aside  after  Satan"  (1  Tim.  v.  15)  ;  in  another,  are 
believers  enjoined,  in  terms  significant  of  warfare,  to  resist 
the  devil  and  he  would  flee  from  them.  (James  iv.  7.) 
All  these  passages  speak  expressively  of  a  struggle  be- 
tween him  who  is  the  prince  and  the  power  of  darkness, 
and  them  whom  the  Scripture  denominates  the  children  of 
light,  who  are  accordingly  charged  to  put  on  the  whole 
armor  of  God,  that  they  may  be  able  to  stand  against  the 
wiles  of  the  devil — for  that  they  wrestled  not  against  flesh 
and  blood,  but  against  principalities,  against  powers,  against 
the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual 
wickedness  in  high  places.  (Eph.  vi.  11,  12.)  But  Scrip- 
ture is  never  so  distinct  and  declared  upon  this  subject,  as 
when  it  tells  of  Him  who  is  the  head  of  His  Church  and 
Captain  of  her  salvation — that  the  purpose  for  which  He, 
the  Son  of  God,  was  manifested,  was  to  destroy  the  works 
of  the  devil  (1  John  iii.  8) ;  and  again,  how  He  took  part 
of  flesh  and  blood,  that  through  death  He  might  destroy 


THE  DISEASE.  453 


him  who  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is  the  devil.  And 
lastly,  the  prophetic  descriptions  given  in  the  Apocalypse 
of  the  ultimate  fulfillment  of  this  purpose,  identify  the  final 
triumph  of  the  Son  of  God  with  the  final  overthrow  of  His 
great  adversary.  For  while,  on  the  one  hand,  Satan  is 
represented  as  making  inroads  upon  the  Church,  and  ob- 
taining temporary  advantages  over  it  (Rev.  ii.  10  ;  xii.  12) ; 
on  the  other,  we  read  of  his  successive  discomfitures  (Rev. 
xii.  7-17  ;  xx.  2,  3)  ;  and  at  last  the  complete  and  con- 
clusive victory  of  the  Messiah  over  him,  when  the  devil  is 
cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  where  he  shall  be 
tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever. 

13.  In  spite  of  all  the  ridicule  to  which  this  doctrine  of 
a  great  spiritual  adversary  has  been  exposed,  and  all  the 
degradation  that  has  been  cast  upon  it  by  the  style  of  low 
and  vulgar  familiarity  in  which  he  has  been  represented, 
it  is  nevertheless  a  doctrine,  I  apprehend,  of  great  moral 
and  theological  importance.  First,  it  were  a  violent  trans- 
gression of  all  sound  Christian  philosophy,  to  reject  the 
doctrine  in  the  face  of  the  Bible's  most  express  testimonies; 
or  for  man,  in  his  own  little  corner  of  the  universe,  and 
without  one  scintilla  of  natural  evidence  either  for  or 
against,  to  pronounce  either  on  what  is  or  what  is  not 
throughout  the  mighty  unknown  which  surrounds  and 
which  lies  exterior  to  all  that  is  found  to  exist  within  the 
nari'ow  limits  of  his  observation.  It  is  not,  however,  of 
the  infidelity  which  repudiates  the  statements  of  Scripture 
on  this  subject  that  I  now  speak,  but  of  the  levity  which 
slights  and  disregards  it.  Like  every  other  revelation  within 
the  compass  of  God's  own  book,  it  will  be  found  of  this,  too, 
that  all  Scripture  is  profitable — and  that  not  for  doctrine 
alone,  but  practically  too,  or,  for  instruction  in  righteousness. 

14.  For,  first,  it  holds  true  of  every  other  task  which  is 
put  into  our  hands,  that  it  is  matter  of  the  most  direct,  nay, 
of  business  importance,  if  I  might  so  speak,  that  we  should 
know  the  difficulties  and  obstacles  which  lie  in  the  way  of 
its  fulfillment.  Our  great  business  on  earth  is  to  regain  the 
lost  image  of  the  Godhead,  or,  in  other  words,  to  perfect 


INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


our  holiness.  For  the  prosecution  of  this  arduous  work,  it 
is  essential  to  know  how  arduous  it  is,  or  what  the  strength 
and  what  the  vigilance  which  are  requisite  for  its  success. 
It  is  obviously  with  this  view  that  the  apostle  tells  his  dis- 
ciples, how  they  struggle  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but 
against  principalities  and  powers — and  this  to  put  them  on 
their  utmost  strenuousness,  and  on  the  busy  exercise  of  all 
their  Christian  virtues,  in  the  maintenance  of  a  great  moral 
and  spiritual  combat.  The  knowledge  of  a  great  spiritual 
adversary,  fiercely  intent  on  the  destruction  of  our  species, 
and  possessed  of  the  utmost  force  and  skill  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  this,  the  master,  the  malignant  passion  by 
which  he  is  actuated — this  knowledge  seems  indispensable, 
in  order  that  we  may  rightly  address  ourselves  to  the 
great  work  of  our  sanctification.  When  told,  as  without 
question  we  most  plainly  and  authoritatively  are  in  Scrip- 
ture, that  there  is  a  contest,  a  zealous  and  emulative  con- 
test, among  the  higher  and  unseen  powers  of  the  universe, 
and  this  for  a  moral  ascendency  over  the  human  race, 
whether  on  the  side  of  good  or  evil,  it  surely  is  an  inform- 
ation which  practically  concerns  us  ;  and,  in  fact,  the  Bible 
itself  treats  it  not  as  a  matter  of  speculation,  but  as  a  mat- 
ter of  prudential  and  preceptive  discipleship,  when  it  as- 
signs the  part  and  the  performance  which  belong  to  us  in 
this  mysterious  warfare.  It  is  precisely  because  we  have 
higher  powers  than  those  of  humanity  against  us,  that  we 
must  also  have  higher  powers  than  those  of  mere  unaided 
humanity  upon  our  side.  And,  accordingly,  we  are  told 
by  the  apostle  to  put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God  ;  and  for 
what  purpose  ? — that  we  may  be  able  to  stand  against  the 
wiles  of  the  devil.  We  are  further  told  what  the  Christian 
graces  and  virtues  are  which  compose  this  spiritual  armor. 
But  then  the  crowning  direction  is,  that  we  should  pray 
always,  with  all  prayer  and  supplication  in  the  Spirit;  and 
let  me  further  add,  for  the  Spirit,  for  whom  we  are  bidden 
to  watch,  as  well  as  pray,  with  all  perseverance.  Who 
can  refuse  the  practical  importance  of  a  doctrine  that 
stands  linked  with  so  important  a  practical  observation,  as 


THE  DISEASE.  155 


that  of  humble,  vigilant,  unceasing  prayer,  or  that  of  a 
constant  prayerful  attitude  on  our  part,  as  the  proper  atti- 
tude of  defense  against  the  might  and  the  machinations  of 
an  adversary  who  is  far  too  many  for  us  ?  Nevertheless, 
not  me,  says  the  apostle,  but  the  grace  of  God  which  is  in 
me.  It  is  this  which  resolves  the  mystery  of  our  triumph 
over  principalities  and  powers  and  spiritual  wickedness  in 
high  places.  Greater  is  He  that  is  in  us  than  he  that  is  in 
the  world ;  greater  is  the  Spirit  of  God  than  he  who  has 
been  styled  the  god  of  this  world — the  spirit  that  Vi^orketh 
in  the  children  of  disobedience.  And  this  ascendant,  this 
all-conquering  Spirit,  to  whom  belongs  the  mastery,  and 
who  alone  is  able  to  subdue  the  other  spirit  under  Him,  He 
is  given  to  our  believing  prayers;  and  so  we  read  that  this 
is  the  victory  which  overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith. 
And  surely  the  doctrine  of  a  subtle,  and  desperate,  and 
enraged  adversary,  bent  on  our  destruction,  ought  not  to 
be  lightly  regarded,  when  it  leads  us  directly  to  that  habit 
of  watchfulness  and  prayer  and  dependence  on  a  higher 
power  than  our  own,  on  which  the  success  of  all  practical 
Christianity  so  essentially  hinges. 

15.  It  is  all-important  to  remark,  that,  whereas  the  word 
is  the  instrument  whereby  the  good  Spirit  of  God  works 
in  the  hearts  of  the  regenerate,  and  obtains  the  ascendency 
there,  so  also  the  world  is  the  instrument  whereby  the  evil 
spirit,  the  great  enemy  and  deceiver  of  the  human  race, 
works  in  the  hearts  of  the  ungodly,  and  maintaineth  the 
ascendency  there.  We  are  not  sensible  of  any  immediate 
dealings  with  the  good  Spirit,  but  only  with  the  word  ; 
and,  in  like  manner,  we  are  not  sensible  of  any  immediate 
dealings  with  the  evil  spirit,  but  only  with  the  world.  But 
though,  on  the  one  hand,  it  be  with  the  word  only  that  we 
have  proximately  to  do,  can  aught  be  of  greater  importance 
for  the  alimenting  and  the  upholding  of  our  Christianity, 
than  to  be  told  that  it  is  the  heavenly  Spirit  who  gives  all 
its  efficacy  to  the  word,  and  for  whom,  therefore,  we 
should  continually  pray  ?  And,  on  the  other  hand,  though 
it  be  with  the  world,  and  the  world  only,  that  we  have 


45B  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

sensibly,  and  proximately  to  do,  is  it  not  of  like  importance 
to  be  toldv  that  it  is  an  evil  and  powerful  spirit  from  be- 
neath, who  makes  the  world  and  all  that  is  in  it  the  instru- 
ment of  his  ruinous  fascinations,  and  against  whom,  there- 
fore, we  should  watch  and  pray  ?  It  is  with  the  word,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  with  the  world,  on  the  other,  that  we 
have  materially  and  sensibly  to  do.  By  what  means  shall 
a  young  man  cleanse  his  way  in  the  world? — By  giving 
heed  thereto  according  to  the  word.  How  even  did  the 
mighty  Saviour  prevail  in  His  contest  with  the  prince  of 
darkness,  when  he  offered  Him  the  world  and  all  its  glory? 
— He  conquered  him  with  Scripture,  and  repelled  the 
tempter  by  quotations  taken  from  the  sacred  volume,  or 
by  weapons  taken  from  the  armory  of  the  word.  The 
word  and  the  world  may  be  all  which  is  palpable  to  us,  or 
all  which  comes  forth  visibly  as  parties  in  the  contest ; 
nevertheless,  it  is  of  first-rate  necessity  to  be  made  aware 
of  the  unseen  agents,  and  by  wh(?m  these  elements  are  re- 
spectively wielded.  The  word  of  God  is  said  to  be  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  whom  we  are  called  upon  to  invoke — 
else  in  our  hands  the  weapon  is  altogether  powerless. 
And  again,  Satan  is  said  to  be  the  god  of  this  world,  whom 
we  are  called  upon  to  resist ;  yet  how  ? — whom  resist 
steadfast  in  the  faith ;  which  faith  bears  a  respect  to  both 
of  these  supernatural  influences,  when  it  seeks  for  the  help 
of  the  one  against  the  other.  With  both  these  revelations, 
in  fact,  the  work  and  the  warfare  of  Christianity  have 
essentially  to  do.  They  stand  in  a  certain  common  re- 
lationship to  the  moral  interests  of  oar  race,  which  will 
suffer  and  be  in  jeopardy  should  either  of  them  be  neg- 
lected. 

16.  A  great  deal  more  could  be  said  on  this  subject. 
Let  me  only  state  what  I  cannot  enlarge  upon — that  the 
doctrine  of  a  great  Satanic  adversary,  whose  works  the 
Saviour  came  to  destroy,  is  fitted  to  encourage  and  to  en- 
hance our  faith  in  the  Saviour.  He,  we  may  be  well 
assured,  would  not  put  it  into  the  power  of  this  arch-enemy 
to  triumph  over  our  belief  in  Christ  as  over  a  weak  and  a 


THE  DISEASE.  457 


vain  credulity.  The  prince  of  darkness  will  not  in  a  single 
instance  have  to  say  on  the  great  day  of  the  winding  up 
of  the  nioral  and  the  spiritual  drama  of  this  world,  that 
here  is  a  poor  sinner  whom  you  told  to  believe  and  be 
saved ;  and  he  did  believe  at  your  bidding,  and  because  he 
trusted  in  your  promises,  and  yet  he  is  not  saved,  I  claim 
him  as  my  own.  Do  you  not  perceive,  then,  that  the 
honor  of  Christ  and  the  safety  of  the  sinner  are  at  one  ? 
and  is  it  not  clear  that  from  this  quarter,  too,  we  might 
fetch  a  consideration  directly  fitted  to  strengthen  the  con- 
fidence of  all  who  have  fled  for  refuge  to  the  hope  set  be- 
fore them  in  the  Gospel  ? 

17.  You  will  at  once  perceive  that  the  doctrine  of  a 
great  spiritual  adversary,  a  created  spirit,  however,  has 
nothing  in  common  with  the  doctrine  of  Manicheism,  or 
of  two  eternal  principles  of  good  and  evil  which  share  the 
universe  between  them.  And  you  will  also  perceive, 
that  it  neither  alleviates  nor  augments  the  difficulty  which 
attaches  to  the  deep  enigma  of  the  origin  of  evil.  It  only 
shifts  the  difficulty,  but  leaves  it  precisely  on  the  same 
footing  as  before.  It  is  not  because  of  its  subserviency  to 
the  solution  of  any  transcendental  question  in  theology,  but 
because  of  its  subserviency  to  Christian  practice,  that  we 
have  introduced  this  subject.  It  is  because  we  believe 
that  there  are  uses,  important  practical  uses,  in  this  revela- 
tion of  a  great  spiritual  adversary,  who  is  named  the  Devil 
and  Satan.  When  rightly  viewed,  it  gives  emphasis  and 
encouragement  to  the  most  essential  and  elementary  lessons 
of  the  gospel ;  and  more  especially,  to  that  which  may  be 
termed  the  most  primary  and  rudimental  of  them  all — we 
mean  faith  in  Christ  as  our  Redeemer  from  the  guilt  of  sin. 
For  look  and  endeavor,  not  to  imagine  any  fancied  picture 
of  ours,  but  to  realize  the  state  of  matters  as  placed  before 
us  in  God's  own  description  of  the  things  of  faith  and  of  an 
unseen  world.  We  there  read  of  Jesus  Christ  having  set 
forth  on  the  enterprise  of  our  world's  recovery  to  God's  fa- 
vor, and  that  the  main  step  in  the  execution  of  this  was  His 
own  death  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin.   We  further  read  of  God's 

VOL.  VII. — U 


438  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

full  acceptance  of  this  sacrifice  as  a  sufficient  and  ample 
reparation  for  the  indignity  of  His  broken  law  ;  and  now 
that  this  great  work  is  finished,  the  outrage  done  to  His 
authority  He  looks  on  as  effaced — so  that  He  might  now 
take  the  most  heinous  transgressors  into  friendship,  and 
yet,  notwithstanding  that  His  government  over  the  uni- 
verse which  He  has  formed,  remain  vindicated  and  entire ; 
— and  that  on  this  footing,  the  worst  and  most  worthless 
of  men,  the  chief  of  sinners,  are  invited,  nay,  beseeched, 
nay,  commanded,  to  enter  into  reconciliation  with  God, 
and  to  stand  before  Him  w^ith  all  the  confidence  that  they 
shall  receive  from  Him  all  the  favor  which  belongs  to 
creatures  who  never  had  oftended.  The  part  that  we  have 
to  take  in  this  scheme  of  recovery  is  to  believe  on  it — on 
which,  it  is  said,  that  w^e  shall  be  admitted  into  all  its  bene- 
fits. Now,  in  all  this  there  is  a  power  of  direct  encourage- 
ment, which  has  brought  over  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands to  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  But  I  ask  you  to  think 
furthermore  of  the  other  and  the  additional  encouragement 
which  lies  in  the  consideration,  that  all  this  has  been  under- 
taken, and  all  this  has  been  done,  in  opposition  to  a  malig- 
nant and  exalted  spirit,  the  enemy  of  God  ;  and  who,  after 
having  wrested,  as  it  were,  for  a  time,  from  the  hands  of 
the  Almighty  His  moral  government  over  the  human  fam- 
ily, is  bent  to  the  uttermost  on  retaining  his  ill-gotten 
ascendency  over  us.  Is  it  conceivable,  we  ask,  that  God, 
or  His  Christ,  will  ever  leave  it  in  the  power  of  the  great 
adversary,  to  say,  that  here  is  one  poor  sinner  at  least 
•whom  you  did  ask  to  trust  in  the  pardon  of  the  gospel,  and 
who  trusted  accordingly,  yet  is  not  saved — I  still  retain 
my  grasp  over  him,  though  at  your  bidding  he  believed, 
but  has  been  disappointed  ? — Is  it  possible,  we  ask,  that  the 
great  Champion  of  truth  and  righteousness  in  this  high 
moral  warfare,  will  give  such  an  advantage  to  the  father 
of  lies  and  champion  on  the  side  of  evil  ?  Ponder  well  this 
consideration,  and  you  will  find  the  longer  you  dwell  upon 
it,  that  it  is  powerfully  fitted  to  strengthen  the  faith  of  the 
believer;  and  with  every  reference  which  his  mind  makes 


THE  DISEASE.  459 


to  the  keen  rivalry  and  emulation  that  obtain  between  the 
Captain  of  our  salvation  and  him  w^ho  is  styled  the  Prince 
of  the  Devils — he  sees  reason  to  rejoice  in  the  thought  that 
Christ's  honor  and  his  own  safety  are  at  one. 

18.  It  is  thus  that  our  knowledge  of  a  great  spiritual  ad- 
versary tends  to  enhance  our  confidence  in  Jesus  Christ  as 
the  Lord  our  Righteousness,  and  so  all  the  more  to  secure 
our  justification.  But  there  is  another  and  great  lesson 
which  it  is  fitted  to  speed  forward  in  our  souls.  This  same 
knowledge  of  a  great  spiritual  adversary,  whom  it  was 
Christ's  express  errand  to  overcome,  and  whose  works  He 
came  to  destroy — this  knowledge,  we  say,  is  fitted  to  en- 
hance our  confidence  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Lord  our 
strength,  and  so  all  the  more  to  secure  our  sanctification. 
The  honor  of  Christ  as  our  Mediator,  and  more  especially 
as  the  champion  who  undertook  this  combat  with  Satan, 
and  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  overthrow,  is  directly 
concerned  in  the  issue  of  our  own  earnest  attempts  to  work 
out  our  salvation  and  to  perfect  our  holiness.  Should  we 
fall  short  in  our  believing  prayer,  lifted  up  too  in  the  name 
of  Christ  for  grace  to  overcome  the  world,  or,  which  is  the 
same  thing,  to  overcome  him  who  is  the  prince  and  the 
power  of  the  world — not  only  should  w^e  be  baffled  in  our 
enterprise,  but  the  Saviour  would  be  baffled  in  His,  which 
was  to  wrest  from  Satan  his  dominion  over  the  hearts  of 
men ;  and  to  see  in  all  who  put  their  trust  in  Himself  of  the 
travail  of  his  own  soul  and  be  satisfied.  Now,  this  surely 
ought,  too,  to  be  an  influential  consideration  for  confirming 
our  trust  in  the  Saviour.  It  should  go  to  convince  us  the 
more,  that  not  only  are  His  honor  and  our  safety  at  one,  in 
as  far  as  the  object  of  peace  with  God  is  concerned ;  but 
that  His  honor  and  our  success  are  at  one,  as  far  as  the 
object  of  our  aspiring  earnestness  after  the  pure  and  perfect 
morality  of  heaven  is  concerned — when  we  seek  to  be  per- 
fect, even  as  our  father  in  heaven  is  perfect.  The  sense 
of  an  adversary  such  as  Satan,  whose  ill-gotten  ascendency 
over  the  human  race  it  is  the  object  of  our  Saviour  to  de- 
throne, should  stimulate  and  strengthen  all  our  supplications 


460  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

for  aid  from  the  upper  sanctuary,  and  give  new  hopeful- 
ness to  our  prayers.  In  other  words,  the  reference  of  the 
mind  to  Satan  as  the  common  adversary,  both  of  the  Cap- 
tain of  salvation  and  of  those  who  fight  under  Him,  should 
not  only  animate  us  the  more  for  the  contest  by  the  inspir- 
ation of  the  thought  that  our  cause  was  Christ's  cause,  but 
serve  to  insure  the  victory  by  emboldening  our  petitions 
for  the  needful  grace  to  help  us ;  and  so  giving  us  a  direct 
interest  in  the  saying,  that  whatsoever  ye  ask  in  my  name, 
ye  shall  receive — 'Whatsoever  ye  ask  believingly,  accord- 
ing to  your  faith  so  shall  it  be  done  unto  you. 

19.  Adverting  to  what  I  said  of  the  respective  instru- 
ments by  which  the  Spirit  of  God,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  spirit  that  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience,  on 
the  other,  wield  their  respective  influences  on  the  minds 
of  men — that  is,  the  first  by  the  word,  and  the  second  by 
the  world ;  I  trust  you  will  perceive  the  immense  significancy 
of  the  apostle's  direction,  when  telling  his  disciples  that 
they  must  do  all  things  in  order  to  stand,  he  bids  them  put 
on  the  whole  armor  of  God,  and  converts  it  into  an  argu- 
ment for  all  the  greater  strenuousness,  that  they  have  not 
to  wrestle  against  flesh  and  blood  only,  but  against  princi- 
palities and  powers  and  spiritual  wickeaness  in  high  places. 
By  the  very  enumeration  of  the  armor  which  he  prescribes 
for  that  warfare,  he  lets  them  know  what  is  the  transcend- 
ental character  of  the  warfare  in  which  they  are  engaged ; 
and  without  entering  into  the  details  of  a  Christian's  equip- 
ment, I  would  say  in  the  general,  that  he  must  not  be 
satisfied  with  the  mere  performance  that  is  done  on  the 
forthputting  of  his  own  natural  powers,  but  with  the  per- 
formance that  he  is  enabled  for  by  a  strength  given  from 
on  high  ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  his  life  must  be  a  com- 
pound of  diligent  performance  with  devout  and  believing 
prayer — a  lesson  that  is  greatly  enhanced  and  enforced  by 
the  consideration  of  that  great  spiritual  enemy,  over  whom 
we  must  prevail,  and  from  whose  power  we  must  be  rescued 
ere  we  can  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  "  Blessed 
is  he  that  overcometh,"  it  is  said  in  one  place.     *'  Resist 


THE  DISEASE.  461 


the  devil,  and  he  will  flee  from  you,"  it  is  said  in  another. 
And  when  we  recollect  what  is  said  in  Scripture  of  the 
reality  of  this  great  infernal  spirit,  of  the  depth  of  his  de- 
vices, and  of  his  going  about  as  a  raging  lion,  seeking  whom 
he  may  devour — it  may  well  be  said  also  respecting  these 
statements  of  Scripture,  which  is  said  of  them  without  ex- 
ception, that  all  Scripture  is  profitable. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ON  THE  GUILT  OF  MA.N  AS  CHARGED  UPON  HIM  BY  HIS  OWN 
NATURAL  CONSCIENCE. 

1.  We  have  hitherto  spoken  only  of  man's  universal  cor- 
ruption, and  not  as  yet  of  man's  universal  guiltiness.  These 
form  two  distinct  objects  of  contemplation.  When  taking 
the  one  view,  we  look  to  the  moral  state  of  man  as  a  thing 
of  fact,  or  of  descriptive  and  historical  truth.  When  taking 
the  other  view,  we  look  to  this  moral  state  as  a  thing  of 
desert — or  in  order  to  estimate  what  is  the  faultiness  of 
man,  and  what  the  condemnation  in  which  it  involves  him. 
In  the  former  of  these  aspects,  it  holds  relation  with  the 
category  of  the  ^'quid  est  ;^^  in  the  latter,  it  holds  relation 
with  the  ^^quid  oporteV^  The  two  subjects,  we  repeat,  are 
distinct  from  each  other,  and  are  taken  cognizance  of  by 
distinct  faculties — the  one  by  the  faculty  of  observation, 
whether  external  or  internal,  that  is,  whether  by  percep- 
tion or  consciousness  ;  the  other,  by  the  moral  sense  or 
conscience  of  man.  The  two  subjects,  in  fact,  are  as  dis- 
tinct as  are  the  media  in  which  they  are  seen — in  other 
words,  as  distinct  as  the  observational  light  and  the  moral 
light  are  from  each  other. 

2.  Now,  it  must  be  obvious,  and  that  at  our  very  entrance 
upon  the  latter  of  these  two  subjects,  that  when  man  does 
conceive  an  evil  purpose,  or  perpetrate  an  evil  deed,  he 
has  a  conscience  which  tells  him  of  the  evil.  He  has  a 
sense  of  right  and  wrong;  and,  in  virtue  of  this,  is  not  only 
capable  of  self-reproach,  but  of  remonstrance  against  the 
iniquities  and  injuries  of  his  fellow-men — and  of  remon- 
strance not  prompted  by  anger  alone,  but  by  an  adverse 
moral  judgment,  or  the  feeling  of  an  injustice  that  has  been 
done  to  us.  The  apostle  Paul  makes  the  full  acknowledg- 
ment of  such  a  faculty  or  power  of  discernment  in  our 
nature.     Men  have  that  in  them  which  is  a  law  unto  them- 


THE  DISEASE.  4(J3 


selves  ;  and  in  virtue  of  which  also  they  can  cast  a  regard 
beyond  themselves,  and  either  excuse  or  else  accuse  one 
another.  There  is  nothing  more  palpable  to  all  experience, 
or  of  more  frequent  and  familiar  exhibition  in  society,  than 
this  habit  of  moral  reckoning — exemplified  in  almost  every 
company  we  enter,  and  of  spontaneous  operation  in  our 
own  hearts  every  day  of  our  lives.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  con- 
stant tendency  thus  to  sit  in  judgment,  both  on  ourselves 
and  on  our  fellow-men:  and  hence  the  grave  rebuke,  or 
the  stern  and  severe  accusation,  or  sometimes  the  indignant 
outcry,  on  the  one  hand ;  and  on  the  other,  the  shame,  the 
self-dissatisfaction,  and  sometimes  the  ever-haunting  and 
agonizing  remorse.  All  this  is  too  obvious  to  be  dwelt 
upon ;  and,  as  a  proof  that  it  does  not  owe  its  origin  to 
Christianity,  but  to  nature,  we  meet  with  it  among  the  dis- 
ciples of  every  religion  all  the  world  over — beside  that  the 
authorship  of  ancient  times  is  full  of  it,  long  before  Chris- 
tianity was  ever  heard  of. 

3.  Thus  far,  then,  we  have  a  voucher  or  testimony  in 
man  himself,  not  only  for  his  being  in  a  state  of  corruption, 
but  for  his  being  in  a  state  of  guiltiness.  When  he  sees  an 
evil  deed  or  an  evil  disposition,  whether  in  himself  or  others, 
he  can  not  only  take  knowledge  or  observation  of  it  as  a 
thing  of  fact,  but  he  can  pronounce  upon  it  as  thing  of  cul- 
pability, and  condemns  it  accordingly.  Conscience  feels 
no  difficulty  in  testifying  to  the  demerit  of  actual  and  par- 
ticular sins.  To  this  the  light  of  nature  is  altogether  com- 
petent. But  then  theology  tells,  not  only  of  the  actual, 
but  the  original.  It  has  transmuted  the  whole  subject 
into  certain  dogmata,  w^hich  it  has  invested  with  a  certain 
nomenclature  of  its  own.  For,  like  every  other  science,  it 
has  its  own  articles  and  its  own  technology;  and  it  blends 
the  consideration  of  guilt  with  what  it  says  of  man's  origi- 
nal corruption  as  well  as  with  what  it  says  of  his  actual 
sins.  Now,  the  question  is,  in  how  far  the  unaided  moral 
judgment  coincides  with  the  deliverances  of  Scripture  upon 
this  subject ;  and  when  theology,  which  professes  to  found 
all  its  dicta  upon  the  Word  of  God,  speaks  of  a  guilt  as 


464  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

being  somehow  implicated  or  bound  up  with  the  original 
depravity  of  our  nature,  it  were  interesting  to  know  whether, 
and  to  what  extent,  the  Hght  of  nature,  or  the  voice  of  that 
conscience  which  is  in  every  man,  is  able  to  go  along  with  it. 
4.  It  might  help  our  reply  to  this  question,  first  to  con- 
ceive a  world  where  only  some  did  sin,  but  not  all,  and 
then  a  world  where  all  sinned  universally  and  without  ex- 
ception.    It  surely  will  not  be  pretended  that  the  univer- 
sality of  sin  in  the  latter  world  does  away  the  guilt  of 
it.     If  a  single  man  fail  into  transgression,  the  conscience 
is  quite  clear  and  unambiguous  in  pronouncing  on  his  guilt 
and  consequent  liability  to  punishment.     If  another  do  the 
same,  this  does  not  remove  the  culpability  of  the  former  ; 
and  we  are  but  presented  with  two  culprits  instead  of  one. 
And  so  of  a  third  or  fourth,  or  any  additional   number. 
These  augmentations  do  not  cancel  the  guilt — they  only 
multiply  the  guilty.     If  there  be  a  world  where  only  one- 
lialf  of  the  population  have  sinned — then  one-half  are  guilty, 
and  the  other  half  are  free  of  the  imputation.     Or,  lastly, 
if  it  be  a  world  where  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of 
the  glory  of  God — then  all  are  liable  to  be  reckoned  with, 
and  all  would  be  found  guilty  before  Him.    There  is  nothing 
in  the  guilt  universal  that  can  do  away  the  guilt  particular. 
The  one  is  but  a  summation  of  the  other.     They  are  the 
items  which  sustain  the  totality,  and  there  is  naught  in  the 
totality  to  extinguish  the  items.    The  guilt  of  the  individual 
is  not  lost,  nor  should  it  be  lost  sight  of,  in  the  guilt  of  the 
species.    The  conscience  is  every  way  as  clear  in  pronounc- 
ing the  generical,  as  in  pronouncing  any  of  the  single  or 
separate  sentences — as  clear  in  affirming  the  whole  world 
to  be  guilty  before  God,  as  in  affirming  of  every  man  in 
the  world,  that  each  must  bear  his  own  burden,  or  that 
each  is  chargeable  with  the  guilt  of  his  own  sin.     There 
is  no  more  difficulty  in  pronouncing  the  one  verdict  than 
the  other.    Thus  far,  then,  our  way  is  clear,  and  if  we  have 
yet  got  to  any  onward  point  in  the  argument,  it  is  most 
assuredly  by  a  series  of  very  closely-placed  stepping-stones, 
or  of  almost  identical  propositions  that  we  have  arrived  at  it. 


THE  DISEASE.  465 


5.  But  as  yet  the  reasoning  has  only  had  to  do  with  ac- 
tual sins  ;  nor  have  we  got  beyond  the  consideration  of  the 
guilt  which  attaches  to  these,  whether  jointly  or  severally. 
We  have  said  no  more  than  that  the  actual  sins  of  the  many 
are  to  be  judged  of  on  no  other  principle  than  the  actual 
sins  of  the  few  ;  or  that  the  actual  sins  of  a  whole  world 
are  to  be  judged  of  and  pronounced  upon  as  are  the  actual 
sins  of  each  and  every  of  its  single  inhabitants.  But  it  is 
not  on  the  guilt  as  chargeable  on  or  as  implicated  with 
actual  sins,  whether  in  the  bulk  or  the  detail,  that  there  is 
any  difficulty — it  is  in  the  guilt  which  theologians  have 
charged  upon,  or  have  implicated  with  what  they  term 
original  sin,  that  the  difficulty  lies.  Now,  we  have  already 
seen  how  it  is  that  with  sins,  viewed  not  in  respect  of  their 
desert,  but  simply  in  respect  of  their  existence,  the  actual 
does  merge  into  the  original.  It  is  not  a  mere  theological 
way  of  viewing  the  subject,  for  no  man  can  look  to  it  philo- 
sophically without  viewing  it  in  the  same  way.  It  is  a 
generalization  which  he  cannot  avoid  making,  for  it  is  forced 
upon  him  by  the  phenomena  which  are  before  his  eyes 
Let  two  worlds  be  imagined,  each  peopled  with  its  own 
family  of  rational  and  accountable  creatures  ;  and  in  the 
first  of  which  all  were  perfectly  righteous,  while  in  the 
second  there  never  was  an  individual  who  did  not  fall  into 
a  transgression  against  some  one  or  other  of  God's  com- 
mandments—and then  who  would  not  ascribe  this  con- 
stant and  unfailing  difference  to  a  generic  or  constitutional 
difference  in  the  two  populations  ?  If  all  past  history,  and 
all  present  observation,  warrant  us  in  affirming,  that  all  men 
hitherto  have  been  sinners,  should  we  not  predict  with  the 
utmost  confidence  that,  unless  by  a  miraculous  reversal  of 
the  laws  and  tendencies  of  human  nature,  all  men  after- 
wards to  be  born  will  prove  sinners  still  ?  with  as  great 
confidence,  in  fact,  as  we  should  predict  of  any  universal 
and  constitutional  peculiarity  that  belonged  to  some  species 
of  living  creature,  that  it  would  be  transmitted  henceforth 
and  without  fail  among  all  the  future  descendants  of  the 
tribe.     The  sin  when  committed  is  an  actual  thing — the 


466  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

sinfulness,  or  prior  tendency  to  sin,  is  an  original  thing  ; 
and  when  we  infer  the  original  from  the  actual,  we  are 
only  saying  what  to  all  men  must  be  abundantly  obvious, 
that  a  universal  sinning  implies  a  universal  sinfulness.  We 
cannot  look  intelligently  to  the  object  which  we  are  now 
contemplating,  without  coming  to  this  conclusion ;  nor  is 
there  aught  in  our  so  doing  which  should  at  all  obscure  or 
still  less  obliterate  the  sense  we  have  of  the  guiltiness  of 
sin.  The  philosopher  and  the  peasant  have  an  equally  clear 
perception  by  the  eye  of  the  difference  between  one  color 
and  another,  and  feel  alike  the  same  peculiar  sensation  which 
each  impresses  on  the  retina,  although  the  one  does,  and 
the  other  does  not  speculate  on  the  cause  of  the  difference; 
or  tell  of  the  composition  of  light,  and  what  rays  are  retained 
or  what  others  are  reflected  from  the  surfaces  of  bodies. 
And  the  philosopher  and  the  peasant  can  discriminate  with 
equal  accuracy  by  the  ear  between  one  kind  of  sound  and 
another,  though  the  one  does,  and  the  other  does  not,  spec- 
ulate on  causes ;  or  tell  of  atmospherical  vibrations,  and 
the  impressions  thereby  made  on  the  tympanum.  And  in 
the  same  manner  the  philosopher  and  the  peasant  can  per- 
ceive alike  by  the  moral  sense  the  difference  of  character 
between  one  action  and  another,  though  the  one  only  can, 
and  the  other  cannot,  view  them  as  mental  phenomena  in 
connection  with  their  causes,  or  speculate  on  the  prior 
psychology  which  gives  birth  to  the  various  deeds  and 
dispositions  of  men.  Nor  is  it  necessary  that  he  should. 
Place  within  his  view  a  voluntary  act,  and  he  can  discern 
at  once  its  moral  character  ;  nor  would  it  help  him  in 
the  least  to  a  right  estimate,  whether  of  its  culpability  or 
its  virtuousness,  that  he  was  able  to  trace  his  way  among 
the  remoter  antecedents  of  the  phenomenon  which  stands 
before  him.  He  needs  but  one  step  backward,  and  needs 
no  more.  He  must  see  the  act,  and  the  intent  or  disposi- 
tion which  prompted  the  act.  Having  these,  he  has  all 
that  is  necessary  for  feeling  aright  and  pronouncing  aright 
on  the  deed  in  question;  and  so  seeks  no  further.  To  come 
at  a  true  verdict  on  the  merit  or  demerit  of  any  given  ac- 


THE  DISEASE.  467 


tion,  even  the  one  being  rewardable  and  the  other  punish- 
able, all  he  requires  to  know  is  the  outward  performance 
and  the  inward  purpose  which  gave  birth  to  it ;  and  with 
this  one  sequence  of  two  terms  before  him,  he  has  all  the 
materials  which  are  requisite  for  a  right  moral  judgment 
on  these  points  ;  and  though  he  may  enlarge  his  meta- 
physics by  the  prosecution  of  a  search  among  the  anterior 
or  higher  terms,  there  is  no  discovery  which  he  can  make 
on  this  walk  that  should  in  the  least  affect  the  ethical  de- 
termination which  he  had  before  come  to.  The  question, 
What  prompted  the  act?  is  essential  to  a  right  moral  judg- 
ment thereupon;  and  to  form  such  a  judgment,  we  must 
know  the  proximate  cause  of  the  Jtct  in  the  disposition 
^hich  went  immediately  before  it.  But  we  do  not  require 
to  investigate  or  to  know  anything  of  the  remoter  causes, 
whether  these  are  to  be  found  in  the  mind  of  the  individual 
agent,  or  to  be  found  in  his  parentage,  near  or  distant,  and 
the  transmission  of  a  hereditary  influence  from  them  to  ali 
their  posterity.  We  do  not  need,  therefore,  for  pronounc- 
ing aright  on  the  desert  of  an  action — as  consisting  of  an 
act,  along  with  the  disposition  which  gave  rise  to  it — to 
move  any  farther  question  than  the  one  already  specified, 
namely,  What  prompted  the  act  ?  We  do  not  need,  I  say, 
to  move  the  higher  or  more  transcendental  question,  What 
prompted  the  disposition?  This  is  a  transcendentalism  of 
which  common  minds  may  be  wholly  incapable ;  and  yet 
they  have  just  as  vivid,  and  let  me  add,  as  just  a  percep- 
tion of  the  right  and  wrong,  as  the  most  philosophic  and 
profound  of  our  mental  analysts.  Let  the  philosophical 
speculation  of  these  prior  tendencies  and  influences  be 
what  it  may,  or  let  the  theological  doctrine  of  original  as 
distinguished  from  actual  sin  be  what  it  may — it  leaves 
the  real  character  and  desert  of  the  sins  themselves  just 
where  it  found  them — the  rightful  object  of  blame  or 
moral  disapprobation,  the  rightful  object  of  condemnation 
and  punishment. 

6.  The  felt  difficulty  in  the  adjustment  of  this  matter 
lies  in  the  imagination  of  a  certain  physical  or  mechanical 


4GS  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

necessity  which  springs  up  in  the  mind  so  soon  as  we 
begin  to  speculate  on  acts  and  dispositions  in  connection 
with  the  antecedent  influences  which  brought  them  forth  ; 
or  view  them  as  being  at  all  resolvable  into  a  previous 
causation,  which  overrules  and  gave  rise  to  them.  It  is 
then  that  the  idea  of  force  comes  to  be  suggested ;  and 
along  with  this  the  vague  yet  strong  feeling,  that  when 
force  begins  responsibihty  ceases — or  that  what  a  man 
is  forced  to  he  does  under  compulsion,  and  can  no  longer 
be  held  accountable  for.  It  is  not  the  time  yet  to  uuravel 
this  confusion,  as  we  hope  to  do  afterwards  ;  nor  shall  we 
attempt  fully  to  meet  or  finally  to  dispose  of  this  objection 
till  we  have  taken  up  the  subject  of  philosophical  necessity 
in  connection  with  the  theological  doctrine  of  predestination, 
when  we  expect  to  show,  what  indeed  we  hold  to  be  de- 
monstrable, that  the  viciousness  and  so  the  guilt  of  any 
evil  disposition  in  the  mind  lies  in  the  nature  of  it,  and  not 
in  its  cause.  Meanwhile  let  it  suffice  now  to  bring  forward 
one  very  obvious  consideration,  which,  if  it  do  not  obtain 
for  us  a  favorable,  may  at  least  have  the  effect  of  sus- 
pending an  adverse  judgment  upon  this  question.  What 
we  advert  to  is  the  distinction — a  clear  and  undoubted  dis- 
tinction surely^ — between  two  sorts  or  descriptions  of  force 
in  relation  to  the  will.  There  is  a  force  ab  extra,  which 
might  compel  a  man  against  his  will — acting,  let  us  say,  on 
the  muscles  of  his  body,  and  so  great  as  to  overbear  the 
honest  resistance  of  his  mind;  and  there  is  a  force  ab  intra, 
operating  upon  the  will,  and  so  as  to  carry  the  will  along 
with  it — compelling  a  man  to  act,  let  us  allow,  yet  to  act 
not  as  before  against  his  will,  but  with  his  will — a  force  on 
or  in  the  will  itself,  and  in  virtue  of  which  it  is  fixedly  and 
resolutely  bent,  either  on  the  performance  of  a  deed,  or  on 
the  attainment  of  an  object  which  it  may  happen  to  be  set 
upon.  The  former  kind  of  force  does  away  with  all  the 
moral  characteristics  of  an  action  ;  and  however  mischiev- 
ous it  may  happen  to  be,  there  can  be  no  guilt,  no  I'espon- 
sibility  incurred  for  it  by  immediate  agent.  On  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  other  kind  of  force  cancels  in  like  manner 


THE  DISEASE.  469 


the  demerit  of  an  evil  action,  I  would  make  a  plain  appeal 
to  the  moral  sense  and  consciences  of  men.     Let  them  but 
figure  two  individuals,  one  of  whom  had  a  doubly  greater 
thirst  than  the  other  for  the  blood  of  a  fellow-man,  or  for 
the  property  which  belonged  to  him,  and  so  was  doubly 
more  intent  on  an  act  of  theft  or  murder,  insomuch  that,  if 
you  should  meet  the  first  rather  than  the  second,  there  would 
be  a  doubly  greater  risk  of  suffering  death  or  robbery  at  his 
hands.     The  simple  question  is,  which  of  them  is  felt  and 
judged  by  all  to  be  the  greater  criminal  of  the  two — he  of 
whom  you  had  the  greater,  or  he  of  whom  you  had  the 
less  reason  to  apprehend  some  foul  and  dreadful  perpetra- 
tion, should  you  have  the  misfortune  to  fall  in  with  him  ? 
Would  not  the  greater  condemnation,  by  the  instant  and 
decisive  voice  of  all  men,  fall  upon  the  first,  or  upon  him 
from  whom  the  greater  risk  was  apprehended  of  some  fell 
and  iniquitous  violence  ?     And  should  the  risk  mount  so 
high  that  it  ceased  to  be  risk,  and  came  the  length  of  cer- 
tainty, would  not  this  but  aggravate  the  sense  which  you 
had  of  the  man's  wickedness  ?     It  is  when  it  reaches  this 
point,  in  fact,  that  his  depravity  comes  to  its  maximum — 
or  his  guilt,  as  if  then  the  topstone  were  laid  upon  it,  rises 
to  its  acme.     Such  is  our  real  moral  estimate  of  the  de- 
grees or  differences  in  point  of  criminality  between  two 
men  presented  with  the  same  opportunities  and   tempta- 
tions to  some  given  delinquency,  of  whom  you  could  only 
say  respecting  the  first,  that  there  was  the  chance  of  his 
committing  the  crime  at  some  time  :  and  of  the  second, 
that  there  was  the  certainty  of  his  committing  the  crime  at 
all  times.     This  very  certainty,  so  far  from  annulling  his 
criminality,  marks  him  out  as  the  most  thorough  and  de- 
termined reprobate  of  the  two  ;  nor  does  it  alter  the  case, 
although  the  certainty  were  translated  into  language  and 
denominated  by  such  terms  as  necessity,  irresistible  neces- 
sity, irresistible  force.     These,  in  fact,  which  are  thought 
by  some  to  extenuate  the  criminality,  or  even  do  it  away, 
serve  but  to  deepen  and  enhance  it.     It  were,  in  truth,  the 
perfection  of  human  depravity,  it  would  mark  his  iniquity 


470  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

as  full,  if  we  could  say  of  any  man  that  he  cannot  cease 
from  sin — just  as  it  marks  the  absolute  perfection  of  God's 
truth  when  the  Bible  says  of  Him  that  He  cannot  lie  ;  or 
when  it  says  that  He  cannot  deny  Himself,  we  are  told 
that  He  cannot  act  otherwise  than  is  consistent  with  a 
moral  excellence  that  is  infinite  and  unchangeable.  The 
necessity  for  thus  acting  does  not  annihilate — it  but  mag- 
nifies and  exalts  the  virtuousness  of  the  Godhead — any 
more  than  the  certainty,  or  if  you  will  the  necessity,  that  a 
man  should  always  acquit  himself  with  fidelity  and  honor, 
would  annihilate,  when  in  fact  it  would  stamp  upon  this  vir- 
tuousness of  his  its  highest  designation.  Say  that  I  could 
depend  as  much  upon  his  truth  as  upon  the  constancy  of 
nature  ;  or  that  his  word  was  as  surely  and  invariably  fol- 
lowed up  by  its  fulfillment  as  the  ascent  of  mercury  in  the 
tube  of  a  thermometer  followed  at  all  times  the  application 
of  heat  to  its  bulb — there  is  necessity  here,  a  necessity 
which  fixes  the  character,  and  yet  makes  it  the  object 
of  our  superlative  admh'ation.  And  ere  we  indulge  this 
feeling,  or  award  to  the  noble  disposition  which  calls  it 
forth  the  testimony  of  our  applause,  we  never  once  think 
of  seeking  backward  among  the  anterior  causes  which  gave 
it  birth.  If  but  placed  before  our  eyes,  enough  for  us  that 
it  is  there  ;  and  to  awake  our  moral  reverance  and  regard, 
we  have  simply  to  look  at  it  as  an  object  of  contemplation, 
and  look  no  further,  nor  inquire  how  it  was  originated — 
whether  it  came  by  hereditary  descent,  through  a  line  of 
chivalrous  and  high-minded  ancestors,  or  sprung  up  under 
an  influence  from  other  quarters  known  or  unknown. 
But  what  is  thus  true  of  human  worth  is  also  true  of  human 
worthlessness.  We  detest  and  denounce  it  for  itself,  and 
irrespectively  of  its  causes.  We  feel  and  pronounce  upon 
it  at  once  as  an  odious  spectacle,  whatever  may  have  con- 
jured it  into  being  ;  nor  would  it  extinguish,  or  even  reduce, 
our  moral  antipathy,  though  told  it  was  a  thing  of  genera- 
tion, and  propagated  invariably  and  inveterately,  as  if  by 
a  deadly  virus,  from  father  to  son,  or  from  one  reprobate 
to  another,  along  the  line  of  a  sadly  corrupt  and  degraded 


THE  DISEASE.  471 


family.  Let  a  man  but  give  way  to  the  unsophisticated 
movements  of  his  own  heart,  and  cast  his  eye  on  this  gen- 
eration of  vipers,  this  seed  of  evil-doers,  these  transgressors 
from  the  womb — why,  if  he  thus  but  sim^ply  look  upon 
them,  he  cannot  but  loathe  them  as  the  hateful  objects  of 
his  deepest  because  of  his  moral  abomination. 

7.  But  within  our  present  subject,  there  Hes  another 
question  of  far  easier  solution  than  the  one  which  has  now 
been  engaging  us,  and  of  great  practical  value.  In  treating 
of  man's  guilt  as  charged  upon  him  by  his  own  conscience, 
we  of  course  view  this  matter  in  the  light  of  our  own 
minds,  and  apart  from  revelation.  But  we  should  not  for- 
get of  this  light,  that,  if  it  be  of  deficient  judgment  in  the 
ethics,  it  is  of  still  more  deficient  knowledge  in  the  objects 
of  theology.  The  very  existence  of  a  God  may  be  only 
guessed  at,  or  seen  but  uncertainly,  by  the  darkened  under- 
standing. Now  this  is  the  place  at  which  we  should  recall 
our  former  conclusions  under  the  head  of  natural  theology 
— when  attempting  to  estimate  the  duty  that  we  owe  to 
but  a  probable  or  doubtful  God,  and  of  consequence  the 
guilt  incurred  by  the  violation  of  it.  It  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  observe,  that,  even  in  this  state  of  obscurity 
— this  moral  and  intellectual  twilight  of  the  soul — the  con- 
science tells  us  of  a  duty  towards  God,  and  so  of  a  guilt 
against  Him,  if,  in  the  spirit  either  of  heedlessness  or  defi- 
ance, we  fail  to  perform  it.  If  it  be  a  blameworthy  thing 
to  know  God  and  yet  not  to  glorify  Him  as  God — it  is  alike 
blameworthy,  in  kind  at  least  if  not  in  degree,  to  guess  at 
or  but  imagine  a  God,  and  yet  not  to  care  for  or  inquire 
after  Him.  If  in  their  knowledge  of  God  it  was  the  con- 
demnation of  men  that  they  liked  not  to  retain  the  knowl- 
edge of  Him,  it  also  is  a  matter  of  just  condemnation,  if, 
in  their  ignorance  of  God,  they  liked  not  to  recover  the 
knowledge  of  Him ; — so  that  when  even  visited  by  the 
thought  of  Him,  they  did  not  prosecute  that  thought,  they 
sought  not  after  Him,  if  haply  they  might  find  Him.  It  is 
thus  that  we  can  fasten  the  guilt  of  ungodliness  even  on 
men  the  farthest  back  in  the  wilds  of  heathenism ;  but  the 


472  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 


practically  important  thing  is  that  we  can  also  fasten  it  on 
the  natives  of  Christendom — the  every-day  men  of  our 
congregations  and  parishes,  who  are  still  in  their  embryo 
and  incipient,  or,  in  other  words,  their  natural  state  in 
respect  to  religion.  Their  own  consciences  can  tell  that, 
dimly  and  distantly  as  it  is  that  they  conceive  of  God,  there 
is  a  solemn  obligation  to  inquire  after  Him,  and  duteously 
to  entertain  the  question,  What  wiliest  thou  me  to  think  and 
to  do?  and  their  own  consciences  can  tell,  that,  in  the  want 
of  this  duteousness,  they  may  be  rightly  dealt  with  as 
offenders,  and  proceeded  against  accordingly  ; — insomuch, 
that  instead  of  coming  forth  with  any  formal  demonstration 
of  their  guilt,  they  might  save  you  the  trouble  of  it — for 
should  you  charge  them  instanter  therewith,  there  is  such 
a  groundwork  of  judgment,  and  conscience,  and  moral 
sensibility  within  their  bosoms,  that  the  sense  of  their  own 
minds  will  go  as  instantly  along  with  you.  They  do  have 
a  sufficient  notion  of  a  Divinity  for  this — a  sufficient  sense 
both  of  the  guilt  which  they  incur,  and  of  the  danger  which 
they  are  braving,  when  they  withstand  the  reproaches  and 
criminations  of  the  minister  who  tells  them  of  these  things 
— and  this  whether  their  resistance  be  in  the  form  of 
apathetic  neglect,  or  of  sturdy  and  resolute  defiance. 

8.  This  natural  conscience,  this  law  of  the  heart,  is  a 
mighty  help  to  the  minister,  from  the  very  outset  of  his 
ministrations.  There  is  not  a  congregation,  however 
initial  or  rudimentary  its  state  may  be,  which  does  not 
present  him  with  a  fit  subject  for  his  demonstrations  of  their 
sin  and  of  their  danger.  We  do  not  speak  of  such  philo- 
sophic demonstrations  as  we  have  now  been  touching  on, 
but  of  an  argument  far  more  palpable,  and  the  materials  of 
which  are  so  far  in  their  possession,  that,  when  speaking 
to  them  of  God  and  of  a  future  reckoning,  you  may  speak 
home  to  the  perceptions  and  sensibilities  even  of  the  most 
untutored  minds  within  reach  of  the  appeal  which  you  are 
making  to  them.  If  Felix  trembled  when  Paul  preached 
to  him  of  righteousness,  and  temperance,  and  judgment  to 
come,  so  might  you  awaken  the  terror  of  thieves  and 


THE  DISEASE.  473 


drunkards  in  homelier  guise — clothed  in  the  rags  of  poverty, 
and  not  like  him  in  the  robes  of  office  ;  and  whom  still  in 
the  veriest  depths  of  their  ignorance  and  squalid  poverty, 
you  might  arouse  froni  their  apathy,  when  you  ask  them, 
How^  they  shall  lie  down  in  the  devouring  fire,  how  dwell 
amid  everlasting  burnings  ?  There  is  that  within  the  heart 
of  every  man,  which,  when  evoked  by  a  call  or  remon- 
strance from  without,  might  make  him  alive  to  the  sense 
of  an  angry  God,  and  of  a  vengeance  now  brooding  in  the 
treasure-house  of  the  Almighty's  wrath,  and  to  break  forth 
at  length  on  all  the  children  of  iniquity.  It  is  thus  that  the 
law  is  still  a  schoolmaster  for  bringing  unto  Christ ;  and 
that  by  the  terrors  of  the  law  you  may  do  what  the  apostle 
did  before  you — persuade  men.  We  shall  not  prescribe  a 
rigid  and  invariable  order  in  the  topics  of  pulpit  address  to 
your  future  congregations;  but  sure  we  are,  that,  in  its 
threatenings  and  rebukes,  the  law  is  often,  in  the  hands  of 
the  Spirit,  a  most  effectual  precursor  and  pioneer  by  which 
to  make  way  for  the  gospel.  It  is  like  the  sense  of  distress 
preceding  the  cry  for  relief  from  it — when  naught  more 
welcome  to  the  awakened  sinner's  ear  than  the  tidings  that 
to  him  a  Saviour  has  been  born. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ON    THE    GUILT    OF    MAN    AS    CHARGED    UPON    HIM    BY 
SCRIPTUEE. 

1.  It  is  superfluous  to  prove  that  Scripture  charges  upon 
every  man  the  guilt  of  his  own  actual  and  personal  offenses. 
This  isv^hat  natural  conscience  feels  no  difficulty  in  doing ; 
and  it  is  done  just  as  currently,  as  a  thing  of  course,  and 
about  vrhich  there  could  be  no  question,  in  the  Bible.  On 
this  matter  the  law  of  the  heart  and  the  law  of  revelation 
are  completely  at  one.  When  we  read_  the  narrative  of 
the  Fall,  our  own  sense  of  justice  does  not  reclaim  at  least 
against  that  judicial  allotment  by  which  each  of  the  parties 
in  this  event  was  made  to  suffer  for  his  own  proper  and 
particular  transgression.  It  was  said  and  executed  upon 
Adam,  In  the  day  thou  eatest  of  the  forbidden  tree  thou 
shalt  die.  We  do  not  speak  at  present  of  the  proportion 
which  the  punishment  bore  to  the  disobedience — but  of  the 
rightfulness  wherewith  that  punishment,  whatever  it  might 
be,  was  made  to  fall  on  the  perpetrator  of  the  unlawful 
deed  and  not  upon  another.  Now  this  individual  was  ex- 
panded into  a  general  procedure;  and  is  expressly  announced 
indeed  in  the  form  of  a  general  principle  or  rule — "  The 
soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die."  Each  man  is  to  be  held 
guilty  because  of  his  own  iniquities ;  and  each  man  is  to 
be  condemned  and  to  suffer  because  of  his  own  guilt.  And 
as  if  to  fortify  and  define  in  utmost  possible  fullness  this 
rule  of  distributive  equity,  it  is  added — "  The  son  shall  not 
bear  the  iniquity  of  the  father,  neither  shall  the  father  bear 
the  iniquity  of  the  son.  The  righteousness  of  the  righteous 
shall  be  upon  him,  and  the  wickedness  of  the  wicked  shall 
be  upon  him."  (Ezek.  xviii.  20.)  It  is  needless,  for  the 
establishment  of  a  matter  so  obvious,  to  quote  any  more  of 
holy  writ — whether  from  its  particular  narratives  or  moral 
sayings.     Thus  far  there  is  a  full  coincidence  between 


THE  DISEASE. 


conscience  and  Scripture ;  and  by  neither  of  these  two 
great  authorities  is  it  ever  questioned — that  on  the  head  of 
the  offender  lies  the  guilt,  and  that  on  him  rather  than  on 
another  should  be  laid  the  penalty  of  his  own  misdoings. 

2.  We  have  already  affirmed,  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
of  this  judgment  on  the  guilt  incurred  by  man  for  his  own 
evil  deeds,  that  it  was  not  affected  by  the  consideration 
that  deeds  of  wickedness  implied  a  prior  disposition  to 
wickedness ;  and  that  neither  was  it  affected  by  any  opinion 
which  we  might  form  respecting  the  origin  of  this  disposi- 
tion. We  feel  quite  sure  that  evil  deeds  do  imply  a  dispo- 
sition to  evil ;  and  we  also  feel  quite  sure  that  this  disposi- 
tion must  have  some  cause,  some  origin  or  other.  But 
whatever  the  cause  may  have  been,  it  does  not  arrest  the 
instant  disapproval  which  springs  up  in  the  mind,  on  the 
contemplation  of  a  voluntary  trespass  against  the  rule  of 
right,  nor  yet  the  sense  of  its  just  liability  to  condemnation 
and  punishment.  Let  the  disposition  have  come  by  inher- 
itance from  one's  own  ancestors — this  does  not  affect  our 
moral  judgment  of  the  criminality  and  guilt  of  one's  ow^n 
sins.  It  is  irrespective  of  any  view  taken  in  regard  to  the 
cause  of  the  sinfulness,  when  we  give  our  consent  to  the 
equity  of  the  proposition — that  the  soul  which  sinneth  it 
shall  die.  Even  though  told  of  this  sinfulness,  that  it  is 
owing  to  the  sinfulness  of  parents,  transmitted  by  a  physi- 
ological law,  which  as  much  insured  that  there  should  be  a 
descent  of  the  same  human  depravity  from  father  to  son,  as 
there  is  of  the  same  human  form — this  does  not  lessen  in 
our  estimation  the  hatefulness,  and  neither  does  it  extinguish, 
and  we  think  it  does  not  even  extenuate  our  sense  of  the 
guilt,  which  attaches  to  the  wicked  and  wrong  doings  that 
have  been  thus  germinated.  There  may  be  as  sure  a 
transmission  of  the  same  mental  as  there  is  of  the  same 
material  likeness  in  the  great  family  of  man,  from  genera- 
tion to  generation ;  and  yet  the  men  of  each  generation 
are  both  held  by  conscience  and  held  by  Scripture  to  be 
distinctly  responsible  for  their  own  personal  sins — whatever 
their  derivation  may  have  been,  or  whatever  pedigree  either 


476  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

experience  or  revelation  may  have  assigned  to  them.  And 
all  this  I  would  have  you  to  understand — though  this  re- 
quires your  close  and  earnest  attention — all  this  without 
prejudice  to  the  rule  that  the  son  shall  not  bear  the  iniquity 
of  his  father.  The  son  may  inherit  the  father's  sinful 
disposition,  and  under  the  promptings  of  that  disposition, 
may  commit  hundreds  of  sins  in  his  own  person,  and  be 
reckoned  with  for  these  only — not  for  the  father's  sins,  you 
will  observe,  but  only  for  his  own — though  the  sinful  dispo- 
sition which  gave  birth  to  them  should  be  the  consequent 
of  a  like  disposition  in  the  parentage  from  which  he  has 
descended.  He  may  have  got  his  sinful  nature  from  his 
parents ;  and  yet  the  guilt  of  the  sins  committed  by  him 
under  the  instigations  of  that  nature  may  be  exclusively 
his  own.  In  tracing  the  matter  upwards,  we  may  find  a 
cause  for  the  existence  of  his  sins  in  the  prior  corruption 
wherewith  his  parents  may  have  been  tainted ;  and  yet  in 
the  judicial  procedure  of  Him  who  sitteth  above,  both  he 
as  well  as  his  fathers  may,  in  respect  to  the  guilt  of  their 
sins,  have  been  each  dealt  with  only  for  his  own  personal 
transgressions,  and  not  for  those  of  another.  This  is  the 
rule  which  the  prophet  announces  in  the  remonstrances  that 
he  holds  with  the  children  of  Israel ;  and  any  man  who 
looks  profoundly  or  rather  patiently  to  the  question,  will 
see  that  there  is  really  nothing  to  infringe  this  principle  in 
the  fact  of  ours  being  a  hereditary  or  transmitted  corrup- 
tion— no  incompatibility  whatever  between  the  two  posi- 
tions, that,  while  our  sinfulness  has  come  to  us  from  our 
ancestors,  the  guilt  of  our  sins  is  our  own. 

3.  It  is  quite  clear  that  the  Bible  goes  thus  far — for  each 
of  these  propositions  is  expressly  affirmed  in  it.  It  tells  us 
that  in  virtue  of  their  descent  from  Adam  all  men  have  a 
corrupt  nature  transmitted  by  him,  or  derived  from  him  ; 
and  it  also  tells  us  that  for  the  sins  which  because  of  this 
nature  each  man  perpetrates,  each  man  is  personally  re- 
sponsible. Scripture  makes  no  question  of  the  compatibil- 
ity of  these  two  things ;  and  though  it  may  not  say  so  in 
as  many  words,  it  must  hold  so,  else  it  would  be  charging 


THE  DISEASE.  477 


itself  with  contradiction.  We  need  not  multiply  quota- 
tions, but  satisfy  ourselves  with  one  or  two  which  are  ab- 
solutely decisive.  We  are  told  that  that  which  is  born  of 
the  flesh  is  flesh  ;  and  we  are  told  also  of  the  moral  char- 
acteristics of  this  flesh  being  such,  that  they  who  are  in  the 
flesh — they  who  remain  what,  nature  made  them,  cannot 
please  God — that  the  carnal  or  fleshly  mind,  the  mind  in 
its  first  or  natural  state,  is  enmity  against  God :  and  con- 
necting this  as  cause  and  consequent  with  all  actual  trans- 
gressions, relating  the  one  to  the  other  as  a  fountain-head 
to  its  streams,  it  further  tells  us  what  the  works  or  pro- 
ducts of  the  flesh  are,  and  the  sort  of  particular  sins  or 
vices  which  itself  enumerates — adultery,  fornications^,  un- 
cleanness,  lasciviousness,  idolatry,  witchcraft,  hatred,  vari- 
ance, emulations,  wrath,  seditions,  heresies,  envyings,  mur- 
ders, drunkenness,  revelings,  and  such  like — a  list,  you 
will  observe,  of  specific  oflfenses,  incident  to  all  men,  just 
because  of  the  native  or  inborn  tendency  which  all  men 
have  to  these  things — received  by  them  at  their  first  breath, 
growing  up  with  them  from  infancy,  and  at  length  efflo- 
rescing, along  the  career  of  youth  or  manhood,  into  deeds 
of  iniquity  and  bitter  fruits  of  transgression  in  the  actual 
and  visible  history  of  our  lives.  So  inveterate  and  univer- 
sal is  this  tendency,  that  to  be  effectually  delivered  from  it, 
we  must  undergo  a  second  birth,  indispensable  to  all — in- 
somuch, that  what  our  Saviour  said  to  Nicodemus  must  be 
said  to  each  man.  Indeed  it  is  not  specially  said  of  Nico- 
demus, but  said  comprehensively  and  generically  of  the 
whole  species — except  a  man  be  born  again,  except  a  man 
be  born  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  see,  or  cannot  enter  into, 
the  kingdom  of  God.  And  then,  as  we  had  the  works  of 
the  flesh  enumerated  in  particular  sins,  so  we  have  the  fruits 
of  the  Spirit  enumerated  in  particular  graces  or  virtues. 
But  what  we  have  specially  to  do  with  at  present  is  the 
guilt  which  attaches  to  acts  of  disobedience,  and  which  are 
done  just  because  of  our  hereditary  and  universal  disposi- 
tion to  these  acts  ;  or  because,  the  possessors  of  a  corrupt 
nature,  we  are  the  children  of  disobedience.     Now,  while 


478  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

told  in  one  place  that  flesh  and  blood  cannon  inheric  the 
kingdom  of  God,  we  are  told  in  another,  where  the  works 
of  the  flesh  are  particularly  enumerated,  that  they  which 
do  such  things  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is 
because  of  the  guilt  attached  to  the  doings  that  when 
reckoned  with  for  them,  we  incur  the  sentence  of  having 
forfeited  a  blissful  eternity.  The  consideration  that  these 
doings  are  the  proceeds  of  an  anterior  corruption,  by 
which  all  humanity,  in  virtue  of  the  tainted  origin  from 
w^hich  it  has  sprnng,  or  its  being  born  in  the  flesh,  is  through- 
out pervaded — has  no  effect  in  averting  or  mitigating  this 
sentence,  or  in  arresting  the  judgment  pronounced  on 
those  who,  when  called  to  give  account  of  the  deeds  done 
in  their  body,  will  receive  every  man  according  to  that  he 
hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad.  The  plea  that  we 
did  agreeably  to  our  nature,  or  we  did  according  to  the  in- 
chnations  we  were  born  with,  will  be  of  no  avail  in  staying 
the  condemnation  awarded  on  the  last  day  to  the  workers 
of  iniquity — "  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting 
fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels."  It  will  not 
excuse  them  for  being  the  workers  of  iniquity,  that  they 
can  allege  of  themselves,  as  being  the  descendants  of  a  cor- 
rupt species,  that  they  were  the  children  of  iniquity. 

4.  What  we  have  hitherto  labored  to  make  manifest  is, 
that  the  guilt  which  both  conscience  and  Scripture  agree 
in  attaching  to  particular  sins,  is  still  attached,  on  the  part 
of  both  these  authorities,  to  particular  sins,  notwithstanding 
all  that  is  said  of  the  prior  sinful  disposition  in  which  they 
originate — even  although  that  disposition  may  have  been 
introduced  in  the  way  of  which  the  Bible  informs  us,  when 
it  tells  of  Adam  having  acquired  a  corrupt  nature  by  his 
own  disobedience,  and  transmitted  that  corruption  to  all 
his  posterity.  Both  by  our  moral  sense,  and  by  the  voice 
of  revelation,  each  individual  of  that  posterity  is  charge- 
able with  the  guilt  of  his  own  sins — although  but  for  the 
fall  of  our  first  parents,  and  consequent  depravity  of  the 
human  race,  these  sins  might  never  have  been  perpetrated. 
And  this  is  the  whole  amount  of  the  distinction  which  some 


THE  DISEASE.  479 


theologians  make  between  the  original  and  the  actual.  All 
men  commit  actual  sins,  because  of  an  original  and  prior 
tendency  to  sin  in  all  men — a  tendency  derived  they  allow 
from  Adam — insomuch,  that  because  Adam  sinned  all  men 
are  sinners ;  yet  responsible,  they  say,  only  for  their  own 
sins,  and  not  for  the  sin  committed  by  Adam  in  Paradise. 
It  may  be  said  of  them,  that  they  allow  the  original  cor- 
ruption but  not  the  original  guilt — allowing,  as  they  do,  of 
no  other  guilt  than  what  is  incurred  by  the  actual  sins 
committed  under  this  corruption.  We  do  not  think  that  the 
conscience  of  man  goes  any  further  than  this  ;  and  they  do 
not  think  that  the  Bible  goes  any  further  than  this.  Now, 
it  is  at  this  point  that  we  think  the  Bible  shoots  a-head,  as 
it  were,  of  the  conscience  ;  or  that  the  light  of  revelation 
on  this  subject  too,  as  it  does  on  many  other  subjects,  over- 
passes the  light  of  nature.  We  do  not  wonder  that  the 
Christian  tells  us  a  great  deal  more  than  the  natural  the- 
ology of  many  other  doctrines  which  could  be  specified. 
Let  us  not  wonder,  therefore,  although  the  one  should  tell 
us  a  great  deal  more  of  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  than 
the  other.  These  two  lights,  the  greater  and  the  lesser, 
are  at  one  on  the  subject  of  the  guilt  chargeable  on  every 
man  for  his  own  particular  if  voluntary  offenses — and  this 
whether  viewed  respectively  or  irrespectively  of  the  prior 
disposition  in  which  they  originated.  But  when  made  to 
understand  from  the  one,  or  by  the  light  of  revelation,  that 
men  are  chargeable  with  guilt  not  only  for  their  own  pro- 
per and  particular  transgressions,  but  have  the  guilt  laid 
to  their  charge  of  that  specific  transgression  into  which 
Adam  fell  in  the  garden  of  Eden — that  first  act  of  disobe- 
dience which  was  then  and  there  committed  by  the  great 
progenitor  of  the  human  family — it  is  at  this  point  that  the 
light  of  nature,  we  will  not  say  conti'adicts  the  statements 
of  Scripture,  but  does  not  go  along  with  it,  as  being  not 
able  to  apprehend  the  rightness  or  reasonableness  thereof. 
Far  be  it  from  us  to  insinuate  that  it  is  not  most  right  and 
reasonable  to  acquiesce  in  such  a  statement,  if  statement  it 
really  be  ;  but  then  it  will  acquiesce  in  the  thing  as  a  mat- 


480  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

ter  of  pure  revelation — a  part  of  God's  dealings  with  the 
world  which  we  could  never  have  discovered  from  be- 
neath :  and  which,  even  after  discovery  has  been  made  of 
it  from  above,  we  take  on  the  authority  of  the  Bible  alone 
— ^just  as  we  take  what  it  tells  us  of  the  divinity  of  the 
Son  or  the  personality  of  the  Spirit,  or  the  existence  and 
agency  of  those  infernal  powers  which  are  seeking  for  the 
mastery  of  the  human  species  ; — topics  these  of  which  the 
prior  theology  of  nature  gave  no  information,  and  which, 
now  that  Christianity  has  made  them  authentically  known, 
lie  as  much  beyond  the  range  of  a  mere  natural  theology 
as  before. 

5»  Let  it  not  be  once  imagined  that  we  affirm  any  con- 
flict or  contrariety  between  the  light  of  nature  and  the 
light  of  revelation.  We  only  affirm  that  the  former  may 
have  made  known  what  the  latter  cannot  so  apprehend  of 
its  own  unborrowed  resources,  as  either  to  have  discovered 
it  in  its  reality  before,  or  to  have  discerned  it  in  its  justness 
and  reasonableness  afterwards.  And  yet  nothing  more 
reasonable,  than  that  after  being  laid  before  us  as  one  of 
the  informations  of  Holy  Writ,  we  should  place  upon  it 
our  implicit  reliance,  and  adopt  it  as  one  of  the  articles  of 
our  faith.  It  forms  but  one  example  out  of  the  many,  in 
which  the  greater  of  the  two  lights  is  found  to  shine  upon 
spaces  or  departments  of  truth  ulterior  to  all  which  the  les- 
ser can  reach,  or  is  able  to  recognize  as  true  on  any  other 
principle  than — thus  saith  the  Lord.  Yet  having  once 
ascertained  it  to  be  indeed  a  saying  of  his,  it  is  one  of  rea- 
son's highest  exhibitions — the  clearest  and  most  unques- 
tionable dictate  of  a  sound  Christian  philosophy — that  this 
principle  should  be  all  in  all  with  us.  When  God  speaks 
to  us  it  is  our  part  to  be  silent ;  and  having  satisfied  our- 
selves with  the  credentials  of  a  professed  message  from 
him,  nothing  remains  but  that,  with  the  docility  of  little 
children,  we  should  learn  and  receive  the  contents  of  it — 
casting  down  our  lofty  imaginations,  and  every  high  thing 
which  exalteth  itself  against  the  knowledge  of  God,  and 
bringing  every  thought  of  our  hearts  in  captivity  to  the 


THE  DISEASE.  481 


obedien-ce  of  Christ.  Otherwise  we  are  in  danger  of  as- 
serting with  one  and  the  same  breath,  not  only  the  suffi- 
ciency of  reason,  but  the  insufficiency  of  revelation. 

6.  It  is  well  to  have  laid  down  how  far  the  conscience 
of  man  goes  along  with  the  statements  of  Scripture,  re- 
specting that  universal  guilt  of  our  race  which  flovv^s  out  of 
their  inborn  and  universal  depravity.  We  believe  it  to  go 
so  far  as  to  make  it  perfectly  consistent  with  the  laws  and 
sensibilities  of  our  moral  nature,  that  both  the  dispositions 
and  the  acts  which  result  from  this  depravity,  prior  and  in- 
born though  it  be,  do  fonn  the  rightful  subject  of  a  judicial 
reckoning,  and  should  be  condemned  and  dealt  with  ac- 
cordingly. But  though  our  conscience  goes  along  w^ith 
such  a  treatment  of  our  own  willful  acts,  if  only  willful, 
however  originated,  and  therefore  although  originated  in 
the  way  which  Scripture  tells  of — our  conscience,  I  think, 
does  not  go  along  with — I  am  far  from  saying  that  it  con- 
tradicts though  it  cannot  follow — the  ulterior  revelation  of 
our  being  reckoned  with  for  the  guilt  of  Adam's  specific 
transgression  when  he  fell  in  Paradise.  This  is  the  doc- 
trine of  the  direct  and  proper  imputation  to  us  of  Adam's 
sin,  and  for  which  we  have  but  the  authority  of  Scripture — 
it  being  a  subject,  we  cannot  say  against,  but  beyond  the 
light  of  unaided  nature. 

7.  In  regard  to  this  subject  of  imputation,  there  is  what 
may  be  called  a  middle  view  taken  by  Edwards  in  his  book 
on  Original  Sin.  He  subordinates,  if  I  may  so  express 
myself,  the  imputation  derived  from  Adam  to  the  corrup- 
tion derived  from  Adam.  He  conceives  that  the  guilt 
which  rests  upon  us  is  not  the  guilt  of  Adam's  act  of  diso- 
bedience, but  the  guilt  of  our  own  proneness  to  disobey 
— which  proneness,  however,  we  inherit  as  the  corrupt 
children  of  a  corrupt  parentage.  We  think  that  he  has 
conclusively  demonstrated  in  his  book  on  the  Freedom 
of  the  Will,  that  man  is  blamable  for  his  wrong  moral 
dispositions,  in  whatever  way  these  dispositions  may  have 
been  originated  ;  but  we  think  he  has  not  given  the  whole 
truth  on  the  subject  of  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin ;  and 

VOL,  VII. — X 


482  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

though  the  informations  of  Scripture  appear  to  us  to  be 
carried  further  than  the  reason  or  the  moral  sense  of  man 
can  follow  them — yet  on  the  authority  of  revelation,  and 
in  obedience  to  the  analogy  of  the  faith,  we  feel  incHned 
to  the  highest  view  that  has  been  given  on  the  subject  of 
this  imputation. 

8.  Yet  we  do  not  wonder  that  President  Edwards  should 
have  advocated  the  theory  of  a  mediate  imputation.  It 
was  not  he  who  first  devised  it — for,  long  before  him,  it 
had  been  set  forth,  on  the  one  hand  by  certain  dissentients 
from  the  creed  of  the  Reformed  Churches  on  the  Continent; 
and  been  condemned,  on  the  other,  by  the  sentences  of  the 
ecclesiastical  body.  But  we  can  imagine  that  it  is  precise- 
ly such  a  view  of  the  subject  as  would  recommend  itself  to 
the  mind  of  Edwards ;  and  particularly  after  he  had  so 
clearly  and  forcibly  demonstrated  the  perfect  consistency 
which  obtains  between  the  doctrine  of  philosophical  neces- 
sity, and  the  responsibility  of  man  for  his  voluntary  actions. 
If  the  moral  character  of  the  disposition  or  the  act,  if  the 
virtuousness  or  viciousness  thereof,  do  not  lie  in  their  cause 
but  in  their  nature — then,  however  caused,  they  are  still, 
if  good,  the  rightful  objects  of  approbation  or  reward ;  and 
if  evil,  the  rightful  objects  of  condemnation  and  punishment. 
It  was  very  natural  that,  fresh  from  the  triumph  and  suc- 
cess of  his  irresistible  argument  on  the  human  will,  by 
which  he  proves  that  voluntary  actions  though  necessary 
are  nevertheless  moral,  and  that  the  doer  of  them  is  ac- 
countable— it  was  most  natural  that,  on  turning  his  atten- 
tion to  the  subject  of  original  sin,  he  should  transfer  the 
same  principle  to  this  new  object  of  contemplation,  and  try 
to  establish,  that  the  guilt  which  Adam's  sin  had  entailed 
on  his  posterity  was  through  the  medium  of  the  corrupt 
nature  which  he  had  entailed  on  them  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
that  instead  of  being  sharers  in  the  actual  and  personal 
guilt  of  Adam's  own  transgression  in  the  garden  of  Eden, 
they  only  became  sharers  of  a  like  guilt,  because  sharers 
of  a  like  corruption,  which  Adam  took  on  at  the  moment 
of  his  fall,  and  which  he  transmitted  to  all  the  men  of  all 


THE  DISEASE.  483 


the  future  generations  of  our  race.  He  might  have  thought 
that  in  this  way  he  could  rationahze  the  doctrine  of  orig- 
inal sin,  as  much  as  he  had  succeeded  in  rationalizing  the 
whole  of  that  theology  which  stands  connected  with  the 
necessity  of  human  actions  ;  and  which  consists  of  the  cog- 
nate doctrines  of  predestination,  and  election,  and  particu- 
lar redemption,  and  the  perseverance  of  the  saints.  We 
confess  that  we  hailed  it  as  a  great  acquisition,  when  we 
first  became  acquainted  with  Edwards's  view  of  the  medi- 
ate imputation,  and  rejoiced  in  it  as  another  instance  of  the 
accordance  which  obtains  between  the  evangelism  of  the 
Bible,  arid  those  discoveries  which  are  gained  by  a  deeper 
insight  into  the  constitution  of  human  nature,  or  into  the 
secrets  of  mental  and  metaphysical  science.  It  is  the  par- 
allelism which  the  Scripture  affirms  between  the  imputa- 
tion of  Adam's  guilt  and  the  imputation  of  Christ's  right- 
eousness, which  has  broken  up  this  illusion,  as  I  now  re- 
gard it  to  be — because  not  consistent  either  with  the  state- 
ments of  the  Bible,  or  with  the  findings  of  experimental 
Christianity.  If  even  the  most  perfect  of  the  regenerate 
on  earth  had  no  higher  desert  to  trust  in  than  the  deeds  of 
his  new  obedience,  it  would  not  avail  for  his  justification — 
seeing  that  his  best  services  are  alloyed  by  the  sad  mix- 
ture and  instigation  of  his  remaining  infirmities ;  and  there- 
fore it  is  that  he  prizes,  as  the  most  sacred  and  excellent 
of  all  his  treasures,  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  which  he  is 
invited  to  make  his  own,  and  to  make  full  use  of  as  his  plea 
for  acceptance  with  God.  But  if  the  believer,  or  the  man 
who  is  saved  in  Christ,  is  thus  taken  into  favor,  in  virtue  of 
a  direct  part  and  interest  in  the  merit  of  his  great  Head, 
the  mediator  of  the  New  Covenant — then  to  maintain  and 
complete  the  parallelism  between  the  first  and  the  second 
Adam,  the  man  who  is  not  a  believer,  and  lost  in  Adam,  is 
an  outcast  from  the  Divine  favor,  in  virtue  of  a  direct  part 
and  interest  in  the  guilt  of  him,  whom  God  has  been  pleased 
to  deal  with  as  the  representative  of  all  his  posterity.  The 
jurisprudence  of  the  one  imputation,  viewed  merely  on  the 
principles  of  jurisprudence,  is  in  every  way  as  mysterious, 


484  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

or  as  much  beyond  the  ken  of  our  natural  discernment,  as 
the  jurisprudence  of  the  other  ;  and  there  is  as  great  reason 
why  on  the  first  imputation  as  well  as  the  second,  and  on 
the  second  as  well  as  the  first,  we  should  yield  a  like  def- 
erence to  the  authority  of  revelation. 

9.  The  truth  is,  that  we  shall  never  attain  to  a  sound  and 
Scriptural  theology,  or  rather  shall  never  settle  down  in 
the  certain  and  satisfied  possession  of  its  attainable  truths, 
till  when  we  have  reached  the  borders  of  the  light  that  is 
inaccessible,  we  shall  then  be  content  to  be  wise  up  to  that 
which  is  written,  and  refrain  from  every  idle  and  useless 
and  hurtful  aspiration  after  the  wisdom  that  is  beyond  it. 
When  we  speak  of  Edwards  having  so  far  rationalized  the 
doctrine  of  predestination,  we  are  not  insensible  to  a  limit 
here  also,  which  represses  every  attempt  of  the  transcend- 
ental theology  to  overpass  it,  and  where  it  is  our  best  and 
highest  wisdom  to  refrain  from  any  further  effort  to  scan 
the  councils  of  Him  who  is  unsearchable.  There  lies  a 
deep  enigma  in  the  origin  of  evil  which  we  cannot  pene- 
trate ;  and  which  on  the  subject  of  predestination  brings  us 
at  last  to  the  question,  whither  Paul  brought  it — "  Who  art 
thou,  O  man,  that  repliest  against  God  ?"  And  there  is  an 
enigma  alike  unfathomable  in  the  jurisprudence  by  which 
we  are  made  the  partakers,  whether  of  a  guilt  that  another 
has  incurred  or  of  a  righteousness  that  another  has  rendered. 
And  let  us  not  think  that  we  make  our  escape  from  the  re- 
gion of  darkness  and  difficulty  on  this  latter  question,  by 
relinquishing  the  doctrine  of  an  immediate  imputation,  and 
passing  away  from  it  to  the  doctrine  of  a  mediate  imputa- 
tion. The  truth  is,  that  one  of  the  most  grievous  penalties, 
nay  perhaps  the  chief  penalty,  annexed  to  sinning,  is  a 
moral  penalty,  or  the  tendency  under  which  we  are  there- 
by laid  of  sinning  more.  Every  act  of  sin  is  followed  up 
by  the  increase  of  a  sinful  disposition.  This  was  experi- 
enced most  signally  of  all  on  the  commission  of  the  very 
first  sin.  In  consequence  of  it,  Adam  became  not  only 
a  guilty  but  a  depraved  creature.  The  act  of  sinning 
strengthened  the  inclination,  and  at  length  established  the 


THE  DISEASE.  455 


habit  of  future  sinning.  But  not  only  did  the  first  sin  be- 
come the  parent  of  future  sins — the  first  sinner  became  the 
parent  of  future  sinners.  The  corruption  of  Adam  was 
transmitted  to  all  his  posterity.  The  streams  partook  in 
the  quaUty  of  the  fountain  ;  and  the  morbid  virus  which  by 
his  own  deed  had  been  engendered  in  the  constitution  of 
Adam,  every  child  of  Adam,  prior  to  any  deed  of  his  own, 
is  found,  historically,  and  in  fact,  to  have  brought  into  the 
world  with  him.  Every  single  specimen  of  humanity  is 
charged  with  it — insomuch  that  all  of  us  are  sinners  from 
the  womb — a  truth  not  only  deponed  to  us  in  Scripture, 
but  confirmed  by  universal  observation  ;  and  not  only  do 
we  read  of  it  as  an  article  of  faith,  but  we  appeal  to  it  as  a 
fact — that,  whether  we  are  reckoned  with  as  sharers  in  the 
guilt  of  Adam  or  not,  we  are  so  dealt  with  as  to  be  sharers 
in  the  penalty  annexed  to  it.  This  is  palpable  to  the  eye 
of  the  senses,  in  that  all  men  die,  and  still  more  palpable  in 
that  all  men  sin.  Whether  we  inherit  the  curse  or  not,  we 
inherit  the  penalty,  and  the  worst  part  of  it  too.  We  have 
all  been  dealt  with  as  sinners,  and  this  anterior  to  any  per- 
sonal or  actual  sin  of  ours — in  that  each  of  us  hath  been 
born  into  the  world  with  a  sinful  disposition,  and  so  hath 
had  sin's  worst  punishment  laid  upon  him.  Because  Adam 
sinned  he  became  a  sinful  creature  ;  and  not  only  so,  but 
because  Adam  sinned  we  became  sinful  creatures  also.  It 
was  not  because  we  ourselves  had  sinned  that  we  became 
corrupt — for,  radically  and  primarily,  our  corruption  is 
not  the  consequent  but  the  cause  of  our  sins.  Neverthe- 
less it  is  a  consequent,  but  the  consequent  of  Adam's  sin — 
not  of  ours.  Now  the  question  is,  whether  this  be  a  jurid- 
ical act  on  the  part  of  God,  or  if  it  be  referable  to  a  mere 
act  and  exercise  of  his  sovereignty  ?  It  depends  on  the 
view  we  take  of  it,  which  may  be  either  as  a  juridical  or 
simply  as  a  natural  economy — it  depends  upon  this  wheth- 
er we  shall  be  the  advocates  of  an  immediate  or  of  a  medi- 
ate imputation.  If  the  circumstance  of  corrupt  Adam 
having  begat  a  corrupt  posterity  be  regarded  only  as  a  part 
of  that  general  economy  in  nature,  in  virtue  of  which  each 


486  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

parent  gives  birth  to  a  progeny  of  its  own  likeness,  wheth- 
er in  the  animal  or  vegetable  world — this  will  exclude  the 
immediate,  but  leaves  untouched  all  the  reasons  for  a  medi- 
ate imputation,  and  which  charges  guilt  upon  man,  not  how- 
ever as  the  inheritor  of  Adam's  guilt,  but  as  the  inheritor 
of  Adam's  corruption.  The  man  is  held  to  be  in  fault,  not 
immediately  because  of  Adam's  sin,  but  mediately  because 
of  his  own  sin — the  fruit  of  that  corrupt  tendency  to  evil 
which  he  derived  from  Adam.  The  advocates  of  such  a 
system,  however,  have  come  far  short  of  their  aim,  if  they 
think  that  it  has  at  all  helped  them  to  dissipate  the  myste- 
riousness  of  this  ordination.  So  far  from  dispersing,  we  do 
not  even  think  that  it  alleviates  the  mystery.  We  can  un- 
derstand how  the  corruption  that  gathered  on  the  charac- 
ter of  Adam,  in  virtue  of  his  having  sinned,  should  be  the 
fruit  of  a  judicial  award,  and  so  form  part  of  his  punish-, 
ment ;  but  should  it  also  be  held  as  a  judicial  award  upon 
his  descendants,  that  they  too  should  be  punished  by  being 
made  to  inherit  the  corruption  of  Adam  ? — this  can  only  be 
done  by  an  imputation  of  guilt  to  them,  the  principle  of 
which  we  do  not  comprehend.  And  yet  if,  instead  of  con- 
necting it  with  an  imputation,  we  look  on  it  simply  as  a 
dispensation,  like  the  arbitrary  law  of  descent  which  runs 
throughout  all  the  species  of  organized  nature — this  too  is  on 
a  principle  that  we  can  as  little  comprehend.  The  princi- 
ple of  a  dispensation,  in  fact,  is  as  much  above  and  beyond 
our  reach  as  the  principle  of  an  imputation.  If  it  be  said 
that  we  have  been  made  corrupt  because  we  had  sinned  in 
Adam,  and  so  are  held  guilty  as  he  was,  and  treated  ac- 
cordingly— this  may  have  been  the  procedure  ;  but  it  is  a 
procedure,  we  conceive,  the  reason  or  the  principle  of 
which  is  to  us  inscrutable.  But  surely  it  is  alike  inscruta- 
ble that  we  have  been  made  corrupt,  though  not  in  virtue 
of  any  previous  reckoning  by  which  we  were  dealt  with  as 
guilty  creatures — for  where  there  is  no  guilt,  there  is,  I 
would  not  say  merit,  but  there  is  at  least  innocence ;  and 
how  such  a  grievous  infliction  as  that  of  a  corrupt  nature 
should  have  been  laid  upon  parties  who  were  innocent,  is 


THE  DISEASE.  487 


a  procedure  of  which  we  are  equally  unable  to  apprehend 
the  reason  or  the  principle.  In  short,  turn  which  way  we 
will,  we  have  now  got  on  a  region  of  transcendentalism 
where  both  the  one  alternative  and  the  other  of  the  ques- 
tion which  engages  us  is  encompassed  with  difficulties  ;  and 
on  which,  therefore,  we  repeat,  it  is  our  highest  wisdom  that 
we  should  make  revelation  the  supreme  arbiter,  and  defer 
to  its  authority  alone. 

10.  The  whole  analogy  of  nature  should  teach  us  to 
acquiesce  in  this  conclusion.  Many  are  the  phenomena 
presented  to  us  there  which  we  are  compelled  to  receive 
as  true  facts  on  the  evidence  of  observation,  however  un- 
able we  are  to  assign  the  place  which  belongs  to  them  in 
the  scheme  of  God's  administration.  And  sometimes  also 
may  we  be  compelled  to  receive  as  true  doctrines  on  the 
evidence  of  Scripture  which  we  find  impossible  to  be  ex- 
plained,when  viewed  as  evolutions  of  the  divine  government, 
or  of  the  policy,  thus  to  speak,  of  heaven's  administration. 
When  we  look  to  the  animal  creation,  we  behold  an  end- 
less diversity  there  between  the  various  species,  in  respect 
both  of  their  capacities  for  enjoyment,  and  of  the  disabili- 
ties, nay  the  pains  and  sufferings  to  which  they  are  sub- 
*jected  by  the  very  nature  which  God  hath  bestowed  on 
them.  It  is  not  for  men  to  complain  that  they  are  not 
angels,  any  more  than  it  is  for  reptiles  to  complain  that 
they  are  not  creatm'es  of  a  better  and  nobler  existence  than 
themselves.  We  can  give  no  absolute  vindication  of  these 
things,  any  more  than  we  can  of  men  being  formed  in  the 
likeness  of  their  fallen  parent,  instead  of  being  formed  in 
his  likeness  when  unfallen,  which  was  after  the  image  of 
God  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness.  All  we  can  say  is, 
that  even  this  latter  instance  is  of  a  piece  with  God's  deal- 
ings throughout  the  whole  of  animated  nature  ;  or  with 
that  law  of  generation  according  to  their  species  both  in 
animals  and  vegetables,  by  which  the  same  characteristics 
are  transmitted  to  the  descendants  which  were  derived 
from  the  ancestry  of  the  various  races.  It  is  accordant 
with  this  very  physiology,  that  men  should  be  the  partners 


48S  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

of  Adam's  corruption — a  procedure  at  the  same  time,  which, 
however  sustained  by  analogy,  is  in  itself  as  inexplicable 
as  that  they  should  be  made  the  partners  of  Adam's  guilt. 
There  may  be  a  mysteriousness  in  all  this  which  we  can 
not  penetrtae — yet,  in  respect  of  jurisprudence,  not  a  deeper 
mysteriousness  than  that  we  should  be  made  partners  with 
Christ  in  His  righteousness — a  dispensation  this  in  which  it 
is  the  part  of  man  most  gladly  and  gratefully  to  rejoice ; 
and  instead  of  sending  forth  the  outcries  of  an  injured 
creature,  to  wait  in  humble  and  confiding  expectancy  for 
that  day  of  light  and  enlargement  when  the  mystery  of 
God  shall  be  finished,  and  we  shall  know  even  as  we  are 
known. 

11.  And  Scripture,  as  well  as  nature,  abounds  with 
analogies  of  the  same  sort,  as  may  be  gathered  both  from  its 
didactic  and  its  historical  passages.  In  the  second  com- 
mandment, it  is  declared  by  God  as  one  of  the  methods  of 
His  administration,  that  He  visits  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers 
upon  their  children.  And  however  difficult  for  us  to  com- 
prehend the  principle  of  this,  we  have  repeated  exemplifi- 
cations of  it  in  the  Bible  history.  It  was  thus  that  the 
Amalekites  were  dealt  with  in  the  days  of  Saul,  who  was 
charged  by  the  prophet  Samuel  with  an  exterminating 
commission  against  them— and  this  because  of  what  Ama- 
lek  had  done  to  Israel  centuries  before,  when  they  came  up 
from  Egypt.  (1  Sam.  xv.  2,  3.)  It  was  thus,  too,  that  the 
sons  of  Saul  were  hanged  up  before  the  Lord — and  this 
not  because  of  their  own  deed,  but  the  deed  of  their  father, 
in  that  he  slew  the  Gibeonites.  (2  Sam.  xxi.  1-9.)  We 
further  read  of  the  Ammonites  and  the  Moabites  being 
excluded  from  the  congregation  of  the  Lord,  because  their 
ancestors  had,  ages  before,  refused  accommodation  to  the 
children  of  Israel  on  their  journey  to  Canaan,  and  devised 
mischievously  against  them.  And  on  this  account  were 
the  Israelites  enjoined  by  their  great  legislator,  not  to  seek 
the  peace  or  prosperity  of  these  two  nations  all  their  days 
forever.  (Deut.  xxiii.  3-6.)  Perhaps  the  most  striking 
example  of  this  peculiar  jurisprudence  in  the  Divine  gov- 


THE  DISEASE.  489 


ernment  is  that  of  Manasseh,  who  personally  repented  of 
his  enormous  and  daring  impieties,  and  because  of  this 
repentance,  was  taken  personally  into  acceptance  and  favor 
with  God  ;  and  yet,  though  the  reign  of  his  grandson,  the 
good  King  Josiah,  intervened,  was  vengeance  taken  upon 
the  people  of  the  land,  because  of  the  provocations  where- 
with this  same  Manasseh,  it  may  have  been  half  a  century 
before,  provoked  him  withal.  (2  Chron.  xxxiii.  12,  13;  2 
Kings  xxiii.  26.)  And  it  is  no  obscure  intimation  of  the 
same  mysterious  mode  of  dealing  with  the  families  and 
nations  of  the  earth  which  occurs  even  after  the  ushering 
in  of  the  Christian  economy,  and  as  propounded  by  the  lips 
of  our  Saviour  Himself,  when  foretelling  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem — a  vengeance,  it  would  appear,  not  merely  on 
the  individual  guilt  of  those  upon  whom  it  was  laid,  but  on 
the  accumulated  guilt  of  ages  that  had  long  past  by  ;  and 
for  which  the  men  of  that  generation  had  to  bear  in  their 
own  persons  the  most  dreadful  calamities  that  had  ever 
been  inflicted  on  any  nation.  And  our  Saviour  not  only 
threatens  His  countrymen  with  the  punishment  of  all  the 
righteous  blood  which  had  been  shed  upon  the  earth,  but 
seems  even  to  charge  them  with  the  guilt  of  what  had  been 
done  by  their  remote  ancestors,  when,  speaking  of  Zacha- 
rias,  He  says,  "  whom  ye  slew  between  the  temple  and  the 
altar."  (Matt,  xxiii.  34-36.)  We  feel  the  vast  theological 
importance  of  these  passages  in  Scripture  history.  They 
do  not  unfold  the  reason,  but  they  amply  confirm  the  fact, 
that  God  does  judicially  reckon  with  men  for  the  sins  of 
their  ancestors.  The  same  principle  whereby  He  identifies 
the  whole  species  with  their  first  progenitor,  and  makes 
them  the  sharers  both  of  his  guilt  and  of  his  punishment ; 
this  principle  of  identification  appears  also  in  the  particular 
history,  both  of  families  and  of  tribes  or  nations.  He  deals 
with  them  in  aggregates,  or  in  the  same  way  that  a  corpo- 
ration is  made  responsible  for  deeds  long  gone  by — though 
now  there  be  not  an  individual  member  of  the  body  who 
had  any  part  in  them.  We  may  not  understand  the 
rationale  of  such  a  procedure  on  the  part  of  our  Almighty 


490  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

Governor  ;  but  what  we  know  not  now,  we  shall  know 
hereafter.  We  shall  not  attempt  a  present  vindication; 
but  this  does  not  prevent  a  present  confidence  that  all  is 
right,  and  that  a  time  is  coming  for  the  glorious  manifesta- 
tion of  it.  Meanwhile,  there  is  no  room  to  complain  of 
hardship,  seeing  that  for  all  which  we  have  suffered  or  lost 
in  Adam,  we  now  have  in  Christ  an  overpassing  compen- 
sation. And  the  day  is  at  hand  when  we  shall  have  as 
little  room  or  reason  to  complain  of  darkness — the  day  of 
the  revelation  of  hidden  things,  when  it  will  be  found  of 
this  as  of  all  the  other  ordinations  of  God,  that  righteous- 
ness as  well  as  power  has  had  to  do  with  it — that  this  way 
of  immediate  imputation,  deeply  enigmatical  and  beyond 
all  comprehension  as  it  may  appear  to  us,  forms  no  excep- 
tion to  the  glorious  truth  that  all  God's  ways  are  in  right- 
eousness. The  song  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven  will  be  as 
clearly  intelligent  as  devoutly  rapturous — that  not  only  are 
the  works  of  God  great  and  marvelous,  but  that  just  and 
true  are  the  ways  of  the  King  of  Saints. 

12.  And  if  in  the  light,  and  amid  the  revelations  of  heaven, 
the  works  of  God  are  still  to  be  spoken  of  as  marvelous,  let 
us  not  wonder  that  in  this  world  below,  while  yet  in  the 
infancy  of  our  experience  and  of  our  being,  there  is  not 
only  so  much  to  marvel  at,  but  so  much  that  we  cannot 
comprehend.  Most  assuredly  we  have  no  title  to  com- 
plain, no  reason  to  quarrel  with  God,  because  Adam's 
guilt  has  been  made  our  guilt— if  in  counterpart  to  this 
dispensation,  if  along  side  of  it,  as  it  were,  we  are  made 
welcome  to  the  privilege,  and  most  earnestly  invited  to 
share  in  it,  of  Christ's  righteousness  being  made  our  right- 
eousness. We  have  already  said  that  the  latter  of  these 
two  dispensations  is,  in  point  of  jurisprudence,  to  the  full 
as  mysterious  as  the  former  of  them ;  but  it  is  interesting 
to  observe,  that  though  it  does  not  dissipate,  and  scarcely 
even  alleviates  the  mysteriousness,  there  is  one  property 
common  to  both,  and  which  we  do  well  to  recognize,  as 
being  of  a  piece  with  God's  dealings  in  other  departments 
of  creation,  and  as  marking  an  analogy  in  His  modes  of 


THE  DISEASE.  491 


procedure,  both  with  the  kingdom  of  nature  and  the  king- 
dom of  grace.  We  have  just  noticed  how  in  the  system 
of  His  administration  each  individual  of  a  species  or  of  a 
genus  is  made  to  partake  in  all  the  defects  and  all  the 
excellences  which  are  characteristic  of  the  tribe — descend- 
ing by  an  invariable  law  of  transmission  from  the  parentage 
to  the  progeny  of  the  same  races.  And  the  Bible  makes 
known,  that  just  as  we  share  in  the  forfeitures  and  disabili- 
ties which  Adam  hath  entailed  on  us  because  partakers  of 
the  same  nature  with  Adam — so  also,  ere  Christ  did  earn 
for  us  a  reinstatement  in  the  favor  of  God,  and  the  right  to 
an  eternal  inheritance  of  blessedness  and  glory,  Christ  had 
to  partake  of  the  same  nature  with  us.  We  are  bound  to 
receive  the  informations  of  Scripture  in  regard  to  facts, 
though  it  should  tell  us  nothing  of  the  connection  between 
them ;  and  we  are  equally  bound  to  receive  the  informa- 
tions of  Scripture  in  regard  to  connections,  though  it  should 
tell  us  nothing  of  the  reason  or  the  principle  of  these.  And 
it  does  affirm  a  connection  between  the  efficacy  of  Christ's 
atonement,  and  that  atonement  having  been  made  by  Him 
in  the  nature  of  a  man.  We  may  not  be  able  to  resolve 
the  question,  why  it  should  be  so  ;  but  enough  to  present  an 
authoritative  telling  of  the  Bible  that  it  actually  is  so.  It 
became  God,  we  read,  to  make  the  Captain  of  our  salvation 
perfect  through  sufferings  ;  and  for  that  purpose  He  was 
made  lower  than  the  angels,  to  become  capable  of  that 
death  which  He  tasted  for  every  man.  And  He  was  made 
partaker  of  flesh  and  blood,  that  through  death  He  might 
destroy  him  who  was  the  great  adversary  of  the  human 
race.  And  so  He  took  not  on  Him  the  nature  of  angels, 
but  the  nature  of  man — seeing  that  it  behoved  Him  both  to 
suffer  and  to  serve  in  our  likeness,  that  He  might  be  qualified 
for  the  functions  o.f  the  priesthood,  and  make  reconciliation 
for  sin.  The  children  of  humanity  were  all  made  to  share 
both  in  the  guilt  and  the  corruption  of  him,  who  was  at 
once  the  prototype  and  the  progenitor  of  the  human  race ; 
and  ere  we  could  share  in  the  salvation  of  the  gospel,  the 
Author  and  the  Finisher  thereof  had  to  be  made  of  a 


492  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

woman,  and  become  a  sharer  in  the  humanity  of  those  for 
whom  He  made  an  end  of  sin,  and  brought  in  an  everlast- 
ing righteousness.  If  we  are  one  w4th  Adam  in  the  for- 
feiture which  he  incurred,  because  of  the  same  nature  with 
Adam,  we  might  also  be  one  with  Christ  in  the  recovery 
which  He  has  effected,  because  He  is  of  the  same  nature 
with  us.  We  may  not  be  able  in  the  light  of  reason  to  say 
how  this  is,  while  we  have  the  most  perfect  warrant  in  the 
light  of  Scripture  to  say  that  so  this  is.  He  bare  the  pen- 
alty of  our  sins  ;  and  we  are  dealt  with  as  having  exhausted, 
nay  sustained  that  penalty  in  our  own  person.  He  earned 
for  us  the  rewards  of  eternity ;  and  we  are  dealt  with  as 
having  earned  these  rewards  by  our  own  services.  For 
the  achievement  of  these  ends,  there  is  a  relationship  with 
Christ  into  which  we  must  enter — an  union  with  Christ 
shadowed  forth  by  the  union  of  the  dependent  branches 
with  the  vine  from  which  they  derive  all  their  life  and  all 
their  fruitfulness — a  close  and  abiding  intimacy,  of  which 
Paul  himself  affirms  the  mysteriousness — likening  the  alli- 
ance between  Christ  and  His  Church  to  the  alliance  between 
the  husband  and  his  wife,  or  to  the  alliance  between  the 
elder  brother  and  the  rest  of  his  family.  He  is  not  ashamed 
to  call  us  brethren.  There  is  thus  a  oneness,  an  identity,  a 
participation  of  the  same  fortunes  and  the  same  state  by 
those  who  are  partakers  of  the  same  nature — alike  observ- 
able under  the  economy  of  grace  as  under  the  economy  of 
nature.  There  is  a  whole  host  of  analogies  to  this  style  of 
procedure,  on  the  field  both  of  nature  and  of  history.  The 
methods  of  grace  are,  in  this  respect,  akin  to  the  methods 
of  providence.  We  can  fully  comprehend  the  rationale  of 
neither  ;  but  this  is  no  cause  why  we  should  not  practically 
avail  ourselves  of  both,  and  niore  especially  in  the  higher 
department,  for  the  sake  of  its  higher  and  more  enduring 
benefits — that  in  virtue  of  our  brotherhood  with  Christ,  we 
might  become  the  children  of  God.  And  the  step  by  which 
we  enter  on  this  relation  is  distinctly  made  known  to  us — ■ 
"  To  as  many  as  received  Christ,  to  them  gives  He  power 
to  become  the  children  of  God,  even  to  them  who  believe  in 


THE  DISEASE.  493 


His  name."  And  again,  "  We  are  all  the  children  of  God 
by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus."  It  is  thus  that  we  become  one  in 
Him.  It  is  surely  not  for  us  to  profess  our  thorough  com- 
prehension of  these  things,  when  even  an  inspired  apostle 
affirms  them  to  be  mysterious.  Meanwhile,  let  us  rejoice, 
amid  all  that  we  have  suffered  from  being  one  with  Adam, 
in  the  privileges  and  preferments- that  we  are  offered 
through  being  one  with  Christ.  A  day  of  enlargement  is 
coming,  when  the  mystery  of  God  shall  be  finished,  and  in 
His  light  we  shall  clearly  see  light. 

13.  We  prefer  this  mode  of  viewing  the  doctrine  of  im- 
mediate imputation.  That  is,  to  make  use  of  a  very  com- 
mon phrase  in  the  argumentations  of  our  science,  not  as 
contrary  to  reason  but  as  above  reason.  We  hold  that 
many  have  addressed  themselves  to  the  treatment  of  this 
doctrine  with  too  much  of  the  air  of  demonstration,  or  as 
if  they  had  in  full  possession  a  thorough  mastery  over  its 
springs  and  principles.  Now  we  hold  that  in  our  present 
state  these  are  hidden  from  our  view ;  and  we  have  no  de- 
sire to  push  our  inquisition  among  them  further  than  the 
informations  of  Scripture  might  enable  us — satisfied  in  this, 
as  in  every  other  department  of  theology,  to  be  wise  up  to 
that  which  is  written,  without  vainly  aspiring  after  the 
wisdom  that  is  beyond  it.  In  as  far  as  the  Bible  tells  us 
that  God  entered  into  a  covenant-relation  with  Adam  both 
for  himself  and  for  all  his  posterity — in  so  far  it  is  not  our 
duty  only,  but  our  best  wisdom,  nay,  the  dictate  of  our 
soundest  reason,  to  acquiesce.  But  do  not,  on  that  account, 
let  us  so  speak  of  Adam  being  our  federal  head,  as  if  we 
had  thorough  insight  into  the  whole  of  that  Divine  ordina- 
tion, by  which  we  have  become  partakers  in  the  guilt,  even 
as  we  have  become  partakers  in  the  corruption  that  issued 
from  the  Fall.  We  have  no  doubt,  on  the  authority  of 
revelation,  that  we  inherit  a  guilt  in  Adam  as  the  imme- 
diate, and  not  only  as  the  mediate  consequent  of  his  act  of 
disobedience  in  the  garden  of  Eden ;  but  we  are  disposed 
to  view  this  as  chiefly,  if  not  altogether,  a  matter  of  revela- 
tion ;  nor  can  all  the  plausible  illustrations,  or  rather  often 


494  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  confident  reasonings,  whether  plausible  or  not,  of  my 
brethren  in  theology,  lead  me  to  be  so  far  carried  away 
by  their  example,  as  to  think  that  nothing  dark,  nothing 
mysterious,  has  been  left  to  lie  on  this  part  of  the  counsels 
of  God.  We  feel  in  the  contemplation  of  this,  as  of  many 
other  passages  in  the  economy  of  the  Divine  government, 
that  there  is  ample  room  for  the  pious  reflection  of  the 
psalmist — "  Thy  judgments,  O  Lord,  are  a  great  deep;" 
nor  can  we  in  the  least  sympathize  with  the  certainty,  and 
often  the  intolerance,  wherewith  certain  theologians  would 
press  their  demonstrations  on  the  acceptance  of  the  Chris- 
tian world.  We  do  not  mean  their  Scriptural,  but  their 
merely  argumentative  demonstrations — as  if  they  could 
vindicate  this  procedure  of  the  Almighty  Govenior  on  the 
principles  of  their  own  natural  jurisprudence.  They  speak, 
and  authoritatively,  as  if  their  reason  had  an  entire  mastery 
over  this  subject — nay,  and  strangely  enough,  seem  to  feel 
as  if  they  were  pushing  a  triumph  for  orthodoxy,  when 
they  insist  for  our  acceptance  of  it  on  the  ground  that  we 
see  it  to  be  reasonable.  We  have  no  doubt  that  all  ortho- 
doxy is  reasonable  ;  but  it  follows  not  that  this  reasonable- 
ness should  on  all  occasions  be  seen  by  us.  We  accept  of 
its  doctrines,  not  because  we  apprehend  their  reasonable- 
ness, but  because  they  have  been  authoritatively  made  known 
to  us  by  God  ;  and  to  require  our  discernment  of  their 
reasonableness  ere  they  can  be  so  accepted,  is  in  fact  to 
invest  reason  with  a  mastery  over  revelation,  instead  of 
investing  revelation  with  that  mastery  over  reason,  which, 
as  our  teacher  and  our  informer,  of  right  belongs  to  her. 
We  are  quite  willing  to  admit  that  ere  any  statement  of  a 
professed  revelation  can  be  admitted  into  our  creed,  it 
should  be  such  a  statement  as  reason  is  not  able  to  contra- 
dict ;  but  we  are  not  willing  to  admit  that  it  should  be  such 
a  principle  as  reason  must,  on  some  separate  light  or  pi'in- 
ciple  of  its  own,  be  able  to  recognize.  Now,  such  precisely 
we  hold  the  position  to  be  of  that  doctrine  which  now  en- 
gages us — we  mean  the  doctrine  of  immediate  imputation. 
We  cannot,  in  the  face  of  so  many  analogies,  and^f  such 


THE  DISEASE.  495 


weighty  credentials  as  those  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  rev- 
elations, we  cannot  gainsay  it  on  the  ground  of  its  alleged 
inconsistency  with  the  justice  of  God  ;  but  neither  can  we 
discern  the  consistency  thereof  with  this  divine  attribute. 
We  are  very  sure  of  the  consistency  itself,  but  not  because 
of  any  independent  conception  thereof  by  us  in  the  light  of 
our  own  understanding— we  receive  it  on  the  ground  alone 
of  what  we  hold  to  be  a  well-established  and  well-accredited 
revelation.  We  believe  it  because  God  has  said  it ;  and 
this  we  hold  to  be  a  higher  homage  to  His  authority  and 
truth,  a  truer  exhibition  of  genuine  and  right  orthodoxy, 
than  is  rendered  by  certain  ultra-theologians,  who  would 
exact  something  more  from  us  than  an  acknowledgment 
of  the  doctrine  as  true  because  we  see  it  in  light  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  and  would  have  us  further  to  say  of  it,  that  we  see  it 
to  be  a  just  and  a  reasonable  doctrine  in  the  light  of  our  own 
moral  perceptions.  Just  and  reasonable  we  hold  it  undoubt- 
edly to  be,  but  this  only  on  the  ground  of  its  being  within  the 
four  corners  of  the  Bible ;  and  just  and  reasonable  we  be- 
lieve it  will  appear  to  our  moral  perceptions  at  length,  amid 
the  ulterior  disclosures  and  the  more  comprehensive  views 
of  a  future  world.  Meanwhile,  we  are  satisfied  to  wait 
these  coming  manifestations  ;  and  more  than  satisfied,  when, 
along  with  the  mystery  of  that  imputed  guilt  under  which 
we  are  born,  there  is  placed  within  our  reach  the  counter- 
part mystery  of  that  imputed  righteousness  in  the  accept- 
ance of  which  we  are  born  again.  As  a  question  of  juris- 
prudence, the  one  mystery  is  as  profoundly  inscrutable  as 
the  other ;  and  yet  I  cannot  but  perceive  of  this  lofty  and 
inaccessible  God,  that,  shrouded  though  He  be  in  the  dark- 
ness of  those  counsels  which  are  now  impenetrable,  He 
offers  Himself  to  me  in  the  gospel  of  His  Son  as  a  God  of 
love.  I  therein  distinctly  behold  Him  to  be  not  willing  that 
I  should  perish  in  Adam,  but  most  abundantly  willing  that 
I  should  be  saved  in  Christ.  In  the  way  of  ruin  by  the  one, 
as  in  the  way  of  escape  by  the  other,  there  are  the  footsteps 
of  a  process  which  i-s  to  me  inexplicable ;  but  what  we 
know  not  now,  we  shall  know  hereafter — and  meanwhile,  ^ 


498  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

there  is  a  harmony  of  ordination  in  the  revealed  methods 
both  of  man's  ruin  and  of  his  recovery,  which  might  help 
our  understanding  of  the  economy  under  v^hich  we  sit,  and 
by  the  grace  of  the  enlightening  Spirit,  shut  us  up  unto  the 
faith. 

14.  We  should  gladly  relinquish  all  our  merely  specula- 
tive, and  turn  us  to  the  practical  views  of  this  subject.  For, 
reason  as  we  may,  there  are  mysteries,  unresolvable  mys- 
teries, which  we  cannot  escape,  and  which  force  themselves 
even  upon  the  eye  of  observation  in  connection  with  this 
theme.  We  cannot,  though  we  would,  shut  out  of  view 
the  fact,  the  palpable  fact,  of  man's  universal  corruption ; 
or  of  a  whole  species  brought  into  the  world,  and  without 
their  own  consent,  in  a  state  of  moral  distemper,  and  in  virtue 
of  which  there  is  none  who  does  not  fall  short  of  what  even 
to  the  eye  of  conscience  and  in  the  light  of  nature,  is  the  rule 
of  righteousness.  Here  there  is  a  deep  enigma,  of  which 
we  can  as  little  give  an  explanation  as  of  the  origin  of  evil ; 
and  an  enigma,  too,  not  lying  in  a  doctrine  revealed  to  us 
from  heaven,  but  in  a  phenomenon  of  which  our  senses  can 
take  daily  and  familiar  cognizance  upon  earth.  It  is  patent 
to  all  men,  that  on  one  and  all  there  Hes  the  weight  of  a 
most  calamitous  infliction — for  what  can  be  more  so  than 
the  moral  necessity  of  sinning?  It  may  well  be  looked  to 
in  the  light  of  a  punishment,  for  in  truth  it  is  the  most 
grievous  of  all ;  but  when  once  thus  regarded,  it  can 
scarcely  be  looked  upon  as  any  aggi'avation  of  the  difficulty, 
when  told  that  we  are  laid  under  this  punishment  because 
we  lie  under  guilt — a  guilt  coeval  therefore  with,  or  rather 
antecedent  to  our  birth,  because  a  guilt  coming  before  the 
punishment,  that  all  who  are  shapen  in  iniquity  and  con- 
ceived in  sin  may  be  said  to  have  borne  from  their  infancy. 
In  other  words,  it  is  quite  palpable,  we  gather  it  from  the 
face  of  nature  and  history,  that  with  the  commencement 
of  our  being  we  are  treated  as  criminals ;  and  this  is  quite 
as  inexplicable  as  when  it  stands  associated  with  what 
we  gather  from  the  face  of  Scripture — even  that  we  are 
treated  as  criminals,  because  we  are  held  as  criminals,  and 


THE  DISEASE.  497 


SO  held  from  infancy  ;  or  rather,  if  we  speak  according  to 
the  order  of  cause  and  effect,  or  the  natural  precedency  of 
guilt  to  punishment,  have  we  been  so  held  anterior  to  in- 
fancy ;  or  to  express  it  differently,  we  bring  a  guilt  with  us 
into  the  world,  and  as  one  of  the  direct  consequences  there- 
of, we  bring  a  corruption  with  us  into  the  world  also.  The 
consequent,  that  is,  the  corruption,  is  altogether  obvious. 
It  is  a  thing  of  ocular  demonstration  ;  and  we  stand  in  no 
need  of  a  messenger  from  heaven  to  inform  us  of  it.  But 
a  messenger  from  heaven  has  appeared,  and  informed  us 
of  the  cause — even  that  the  corruption  of  Adam  has  been 
entailed  on  us,  just  because  the  guilt  of  Adam  has  been  im- 
puted to  us.  If  we  demur  to  the  revelation,  because  it  tells 
us  of  a  jurisprudence  on  the  part  of  God  that  is  to  us  inex- 
plicable, we  should  recollect  that  experience  tells  us  of  an 
actual  proceeding  in  the  administration  of  God  that  is  alike 
inexplicable.  A  great  moral  penalty  has  been  laid  upon  us 
all  from  the  womb,  in  virtue  of  which  we  come  forth  in  a 
state  of  corruption.  Experience  tells  that  we  are  treated 
as  criminals  ;  and  the  Bible  tells  us,  with  its  doctrine  of  im- 
putation, that  we  are  held  as  criminals.  Would  it  have 
been  any  alleviation  of  the  mystery  had  the  Bible  told  us 
nothing  at  all  of  this  ? — and  so,  instead  of  being  made  to 
understand  that  we  were  treated  as  criminals  because  held 
as  criminals,  we  have  been  left  at  liberty  to  conceive  that 
we  had  been  treated  as  criminals,  though  held  as  innocent. 
Between  the  doctrine  of  imputation  and  the  denial  of  this 
doctrine,  there  is  but  a  choice  of  difficulties  ;  and  in  the 
findings  of  experience  we  have  the  same  hard  and  insuper- 
able obscurities  to  deal  with  that  we  meet  in  the  statements 
of  Scripture.  We  have  not  attempted,  because  we  are  not 
able  for  it,  any  absolute  vindication  of  either.  But  that  is 
no  reason  why  we  should  refuse  for  this  part  of  theology 
the  benefits  which  have  accrued  to  the  whole  of  theology 
from  the  analogical  reasoning  of  Butler.  The  averments 
of  Scripture  are  not  to  be  set  aside  any  more  than  the  un- 
doubted phenomena  of  nature,  because  we  can  not  assign 
the  place  or  the  principle  which  belongs  to  them  in  the 


498  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

rationale  of  the  Divine  government.  Experience  and  the 
Bible  are  both  of  them  competent  informers  of  many  a 
thing,  that  so  it  is — an  information  which  is  perfect  and 
un violated  by  any  difficulty  of  ours,  as  to  how  it  is.  Each 
can  tell  us  of  the  what  in  many  things,  without  telling  us 
of  the  wherefore;  and  thus  may  we  have  an  absolute  cer- 
tainty of  the  quid,  while  profoundly  and  hopelessly  ui^  the 
dark  as  to  the  quomodo,  ; '-"  '^'^  -  - 

15.  But  these  analogies  do  not  stop  here.  Not  only' may 
it  reconcile  us  to  certain  statements  of  the  Bible,  when  we 
are  told  that  they  are  not  more  mysterious  than  the  findings 
of  experience — it  might  smooth  our  way  to  the  reception 
of  one  Scriptural  doctrine,  which,  viewed  by  itself,  might 
seem  to  be  of  a  dark  and  revolting  character,  when  we  are 
told  of  its  analogy  to  another  Scriptural  doctrine,  alike  dark, 
though  not  alike  revolting  to  our  apprehensions  and  our 
fears.  We  might  quarrel  with  the  imputation  of  Adam's 
guilt  to  us,  when  we  do  not  so  quarrel  with  the  imputation 
of  our  guilt  to  the  great  Redeemer  of  men,  or  with  the  im- 
putation to  us  of  His  righteousness;  for  there  is  an  element 
in  the  latter  which  does  not  belong  to  the  former  imputa- 
tion. Christ  was  willing  to  suffer  as  well  as  to  serve  for 
the  guilty  sons  of  men.  The  sons  of  men  neither  sinned 
with  their  great  progenitor,  nor  was  it  with  their  own  con- 
sent that  the  guilt  of  his  sin  was  laid  upon  them.  In  this 
respect  there  is  an  undoubted  dissimilarity  between  the  two 
cases.  It  is  only  in  respect  of  their  jurisprudence  that  they 
admit  of  being  compared  ;  and  we  must  say,  that  whether 
it  be  the  transferrence  of  merits  earned  by  one  party  to 
others  who  had  no  share  in  them,  or  the  transferrence  of 
demerits  incurred  by  one  party  to  others  who  had  no  share 
in  them,  there  is  a  difficulty  in  both  which  is  alike  insoluble. 
When  we  look  to  either  as  a  question  of  law  or  justice  on 
the  part  of  God,  we  can  only  say  that  God's  ways  are  not 
as  man's  ways,  that  His  thoughts  are  not  as  man's  thoughts. 
And  then  as  to  the  hardship  complained  of  by  men  in  that 
ordination  by  which  they  have  been  made  guilty  of  an- 
other's sin,  and  without  their  consent — we  may  not  be  able 


THE  DISEASE.  499 


to  meet  this  complaint,  so  as  to  vindicate  the  dealings  of 
God  with  that  large  proportion  of  mankind  who  never 
heard  of  the  Saviour ;  but  if  we  would  only  restrain  our 
speculations,  as  becomes  us,  on  the  policy  of  God's  universal 
government,  we  are  surely  on  triumphant  vantage-ground 
for  silencing  the  murmurs  of  aggrieved  nature,  when  sent 
forth  in  the  form  of  an  outcry  against  the  severity  of  God. 
upon  themselves.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  the  guilt  of  Adam 
has  been  reckoned  to  us,  is  there  nothing  to  neutralize  this 
infliction,  or  to  appease  our  remonstrances  because  of  it,  in 
that  the  righteousness  of  Christ  is  offered  to  us  ?  When 
the  apostle  tells  us  of  what  we  have  lost  in  the  first  Adam, 
he  at  the  same  time  tells  us,  not  only  of  what  we  have  re- 
covered, but  of  the  how  much  more  we  have  gained  in  the 
second  Adam.  To  us,  at  least  the  gift  overpasses  the  for- 
feiture. We  leave  with  all  confidence  to  the  disposal  of 
our  Almighty  Sovereign  all  the  men  of  those  nations 
among  whom  the  light  of  the  gospel  has  never  entered. 
But  surely  we  have  nothing  to  allege  of  outrage  or  injury, 
when  the  light  of  that  gospel  is  shining  around  us ;  and 
when  in  its  friendly  overtures,  pressed  without  reserve,  and 
with  the  utmost  earnestness  upon  us  all,  we  might  for  all 
the  miseries  obtain,  if  we  will,  a  greatly  overpassing  com- 
pensation. 

16.  And  herein  lies  the  theological  importance  of  our 
doctrine.  The  rejection  of  it,  because  of  its  mysterious- 
ness,  would,  in  scientific  consistency,  involve  the  rejection 
of  another  doctrine,  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the 
evangelical  system,  and  which  constitutes  the  basis  of  a 
sinner's  religion  and  a  sinner's  hopes.  On  personal  grounds, 
indeed,  the  one  imputation  may  be  a  more  welcome  propo- 
sition than  the  other — the  imputation  of  Christ's  righteous- 
ness a  more  welcome  announcement  than  the  imputation 
of  Adam's  guilt :  but  on  the  purely  intellectual  ground,  if 
there  be  a  difficulty  in  the  latter  which  disposes  us  to  stand 
in  doubt  of  it,  this  cannot  well  take  place  without  a  lurking 
distrust  of  the  former  also.  The  same  consideration  which 
serves  to  dilute  or  darken  to  the  eye  of  the  mind  the  first 


500  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

of  these  articles,  must  soil  the  transparency  of  that  medium 
through  which  we  obtain  a  clear  perception  or  confident 
belief  in  the  second  of  them.  It  is  true  that  our  self-love 
might  induce  us  to  like  the  one  imputation  better  than  the 
other — just  as  we  like  a  gain  rather  than  a  loss,  a  benefit 
rather  than  an  injury ;  but,  by  the  constitution  of  the  gos- 
pel, our  participation  of  the  benefit  is  made  to  hinge,  not  on 
our  liking  for  the  doctrine  which  proclaims  it,  but  on  our 
faith  in  that  doctrine.  It  is  not  enough  that  it  be  palatable 
to  the  feelings  of  the  mind,  as  a  matter  of  taste  or  a  matter 
of  choice — it  must  be  palpable  to  the  discernment  of  the 
mind,  as  a  matter  of  understanding.  It  must  not  only  be 
relished,  but  understood  and  beUeved  in.  It  is  not  sufficient 
that  it  be  prized  or  longed  after  for  its  value,  it  must  fur- 
ther commend  itself  to  the  faculty  which  takes  cognizance 
of  its  truth  ;  and  if  the  juridical  difficulty  which  attaches  to 
the  transferrence  of  Adam's  guilt  shall  be  permitted  to  weigh 
against  the  evidence  of  Scripture,  the  same  difficulty  at- 
taches to  the  analogous  transferrence  of  Christ's  righteous- 
ness, and  so  will  have  a  sullying  effect  on  the  great  article 
of  a  sinner's  justification  in  the  sight  of  God.  The  sound 
Christian  philosophy,  which  defers  to  the  contents  of  Scrip- 
ture because  of  the  legitimate  and  well-earned  authority 
which  lies  in  the  credentials  of  Scripture,  will  deal  equally 
with  all  the  averments  of  this  sacred  record,  and  in  so  doing 
will  mightily  strengthen  its  faith  in  all.  The  harmony  and 
the  mutual  support  which  obtain  throughout  the  component 
parts  of  every  system  of  truth,  will  not  be  found  wanting 
in  the  system  of  that  revelation  which  has  come  down  to  us 
from  heaven ;  and  more  especially,  the  man  who  believes 
that  w^e  are  held  as  having  sinned  in  Adam,  because  the 
Bible  tells  him  so  it  is,  though  it  has  not  told  him  how  it  is, 
will  be  made  to  rejoice  in  the  clearness  and  the  consistency 
of  his  views,  and  to  experience  of  this  dogma,  hateful  and 
revolting  though  it  be  to  many,  that  it  serves  him  for  a 
confirmation  or  a  buttress  to  the  most  essential  article  of 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

17.  What  we  have  already  said  of  the  theological  im- 


THE  DISEASE.  501 


portance  of  this  article  will  in  part  demonstrate  its  great 
practical  importance  also.  We  think  that  the  doctrine  of 
our  guilt  in  Adam  might  prove  helpful,  perhaps  in  com- 
mencing, and  certainly  in  confirming,  our  faith  in  the  all- 
precious  doctrine  of  our  righteousness  in  Christ.  If  there 
be  an  inscrutable  policy  which  we  cannot  fathom  in  that 
procedure  of  the  Divine  admini-stration  by  which  we  are 
condemned  because  of  Adam's  sin,  there  may  be  a  like  in- 
scrutable policy  in  that  other  procedure  of  the  Divine  ad- 
ministration by  which  we  are  justified  because  of  Christ's 
meritorious  services  ;  but  certain  it  is,  that  after  having 
admitted  the  one  on  the  authority  of  Scripture,  there  is 
something  more  than  an  equal  reason  for  admitting  the 
other  also ;  for,  over  and  above  the  authority  of  Scripture, 
which  is  the  same  for  both,  there  is  an  argumentuin  afor- 
tioH  in  behalf  of  the  imputed  righteousness  which  is  pecu- 
liarly its  own.  Viewed  as  a  question  of  legal  judgment,  we 
may  be  as  little  disposed  to  assign  a  principle  for  the  one 
as  for  the  other.  But  we  read  of  a  mercy  that  rejoiceth 
against  judgment — we  read  of  judgment  as  a  strange 
work,  and  of  mercy  as  a  darling  attribute — we  read  of  a 
mercy  that  rejoiceth  over  all  the  works  of  God,  and  in  the 
midst  of  all  His  perfections ;  and  as  Paul,  when  comparing 
our  loss  by  Adam  with  our  gain  by  Christ,  tells  us  how 
much  the  one  preponderates  over  the  other,  so  we  feeJ  dis- 
posed to  reiterate  and  take  up  his  inference ;  and  to  con- 
clude from  our  very  experience  of  the  evils  which  follow 
in  the  train  of  the  imputed  guilt,  with  what  perfect  assur- 
ance we  might  rely  on  that  imputed  righteousness,  in  the 
train  of  which  there  follow  the  forgiveness,  and  the  recon- 
ciliation, and  the  graces  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  ever- 
lasting happiness,  and  all  the  other  blessings  which  a  gra- 
cious Dispenser  delights  in  shedding  forth  among  the  chil- 
dren of  men.  Surely,  if  by  an  economy  which  God  Him- 
self hath  instituted,  the  one  imputation  have  taken  such 
baleful  effect  in  all  the  miseries  of  our  natural  inheritance, 
how  much  more  will  the  other  imputation,  which  He  also 
hath  ordained,  take  effect  in  all  the  fruits  and  fulfillments  of 


502  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

His  promised  salvation  ?  He  surely,  of  whom  we  read, 
that  He  is  love,  and  that  He  is  the  Lord  God  merciful  and 
gracious,  yet  left  open  a  mysterious  pathway  by  which  the 
guilt  of  Adam,  and  the  penalties  of  that  guilt,  descend  upon 
all  who  sprung  from  him — He,  doubtless,  will  give  full 
facility  and  accomplishment  along  that  other  pathway 
which  Himself  hath  ordained,  and  given  advertisement  of 
to  the  world ;  and  by  which  the  righteousness  of  Christ, 
and  the  rewards  of  that  righteousness,  descend  in  showers 
of  blessedness  and  glory  on  all  who  believe  in  Him.  The 
bane  and  the  antidote  may  to  us  be  alike  mysterious,  and 
there  may  be  reasons  of  state  for  the  operation  both  of  the 
one  and  of  the  other  which  we  are  unable  to  comprehend ; 
but  if  there  be  a  certainty,  as  well  as  gloriousness,  in  the 
ministration  of  condemnation,  then  might  we  reckon  and 
rejoice  in  the  equal  certainty  and  superior  gloriousness  of 
the  ministration  of  righteousness  with  the  full  assurance  of 
faith. 

18.  There  is  another  theological  and  practical  benefit  in 
the  doctrine  of  immediate  imputation,  which  might  best  be 
understood  if  we  attend  to  the  counterpart  evil  which  re- 
sults from  the  doctrine  of  mediate  imputation.  If  all  the 
guilt  we  inherit  from  Adam  be  the  guilt  of  those  sins  which 
ourselves  commit  in  virtue  of  the  corruption  derived  from 
Adam,  then,  to  maintain  the  parallelism  announced  in  Scrip- 
ture between  the  first  and  the  second  Adam,  between  the 
methods  of  our  ruin  and  of  our  recovery,  all  the  righteous- 
ness, of  which  we  are  made  the  heirs  and  the  partakers  in 
Christ,  must  be  the  righteousness  of  that  new  obedience  we 
are  enabled  to  perform,  in  virtue  of  the  holy  and  the  reno- 
vated nature  derived  from  Christ.  Now,  we  venture  to 
affirm,  that  there  is  no  earnest,  no  enlightened,  no  honestly 
and  uprightly  aspiring  Christian,  who  does  not  feel  the  utter 
frailty  and  precariousness  of  such  a  foundation  on  which  to 
rest  for  acceptance  with  God.  The  farther  that  one  ad- 
vances in  the  experimental  life  of  a  believer,  the  deeper  and 
the  humbler  will  be  his  sense  of  the  insufficiency  of  his  own 
personal   righteousness — we   mean   of  that   righteousness 


THE  DISEASE.  503 


which  is  done  by  himself — through  the  operation  of  that 
Spirit,  which  is  given  as  the  earnest  of  their  inheritance  to 
them  who  have  before  trusted  in  Christ.  If  at  conversion 
they  renounced  all  trust  in  their  own  righteousness,  and 
made  the  righteousness  of  Christ  the  alone  plea  of  their 
meritorious  acceptance,  then  after  conversion  they  make  as 
little  a  plea  of  their  own  righteousness,  and  rest  this  as  en- 
tirely and  exclusively  on  the  righteousness  of  Christ  as 
before.  What  was  the  beginning  of  their  confidence  at 
the  first,  they  hold  firm  and  fast  even  unto  the  end.  They 
lean  always  on  the  same  foundation,  the  same  to-day,  yes- 
terday, and  forever.  There  is  nothing  in  the  subsequent 
experience  of  the  new  life  on  which  they  have  entered  that 
can  lead  them  to  change  it,  or  to  transfer  their  dependence 
from  the  merits  of  Christ  to  their  own  merits,  as  the  basis, 
the  legal  and  judicial  basis,  of  their  right  to  the  inheritance 
of  the  saints.  The  whole  experience  of  them  who  grow 
in  grace,  and  at  the  same  time  in  the  knowledge  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  is  on  the  side  of  a  more 
simple  and  entire  dependence  on  Him  who  is  the  Lord 
their  righteousness  than  before.  With  every  accession  to 
their  growth  in  grace,  is  there  an  accession  to  their  moral 
sensibility,  so  as  to  make  them  more  alive  every  day  to  the 
remainder  of  corruption  in  a  sinful  nature,  now  placed 
under  the  control  of  a  heaven-born  principle  within  them, 
but  not  yet  exterminated.  It  is  thus  that  the  humility  and 
the  positive  excellence  of  every  genuine  Christian  keep 
pace  the  one  with  the  other — so  that  as  days  and  years  roll 
on,  we  find  him  clinging  more  tenaciously  and  more  exclu- 
sively to  Christ  than  ever,  and  to  the  everlasting  righteous- 
ness which  He  hath  brought  in.  The  world  cannot  enter 
into  the  felt  distress  and  mortification  of  the  believer  under 
the  consciousness  of  his  own  personal  deficiencies.  Never- 
theless, it  is  but  the  repetition  of  what  was  felt  and  uttered 
by  the  apostle  Paul,  who  not  only  at  conversion  renounced 
his  own  righteousness,  which  was  of  the  law,  but  after 
conversion  never  ceased  to  deplore  his  infirmities,  and  to 
make  mention  of  his  vile  body,  that  body  of  sin  and  death 


604  INSTITDTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

whicii  encompassed  him;  and  whose  only  outgoing 'from 
the  fears  and  agonies  of  that  remorse  which  agitated  his 
bosom,  was  that  he  could  still  thank  God  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  Now,  this  doctrine  of  a  mediate  imputa- 
tion, if  carried  out  as  consistently  as  it  ought  to  be,  serves 
to  dilute  and  to  vitiate,  and  thus  to  destroy,  the  confidence 
of  the  believer — placing  it  on  another  foundation  than  at 
the  first,  on  the  yet  immature  and  woefully  imperfect  right- 
eousness of  the  new  creature,  and  not  where  it  ever  should 
abide,  on  that  perfect  and  immaculate  righteousness  which 
is  without  failure  and  without  a  flaw.  Thus  it  behoves  to 
be  a  faltering,  or,  if  not,  it  will  be  a  false  confidence,  and 
resting  on  a  plea  of  merit  under  the  righteousness  of  the 
law — even  of  that  law  which  Christ,  and  He  alone,  hath 
magnified  and  made  honorable.  There  must  be  a  single- 
ness as  well  as  strength  of  faith,  ere  it  can  be  that  which 
availeth ;  or,  in  other  words,  it  must  be  a  faith  resting  di- 
rectly on  the  righteousness  of  Christ  as  our  alone  right  to 
heaven,  and  without  the  least  admixture  of  the  feebler  and 
baser  ingredients  of  man's  righteousness — even  though  of 
man  now  under  process  of  regeneration,  as  being  a  new 
creature  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Such  a  composition  of 
different  materials  in  the  framework,  thus  to  speak,  of  our 
faith,  will  infallibly  weaken,  and  bring  it  to  shipwreck  at 
last.  We  are  greatly  mistaken  if  it  be  not  the  man  who 
can  most  readily  acquiesce  in  the  statement  and  on  the 
authority  of  Scripture,  that  the  guilt  of  Adam  is  his  guilt — 
if  it  be  not  he  who  is  best  prepared  for  laying  confident 
hold  on  the  righteousness  of  Christ  as  his  righteousness. 
This  integrity  of  belief,  this  harmony  between  its  various 
parts,  is  fitted  to  confirm,  and,  as  it  were,  to  consolidate 
the  whole.  If,  in  the  derivation  of  his  guilt  from  Adam,  he 
can  find  a  separate  place  for  the  immediate  as  well  as  the 
mediate  imputation,  he  will  have  all  the  less  difficulty  in 
separating  the  immediate  from  the  mediate  in  the  deriva- 
tion of  a  righteousness  from  Christ — the  righteousness  of 
Christ's  own  obedience,  made  ours  for  justification,  from 
the  righteousness  of  man's  obedience,  performed  on  the 


THE  DISEASE.  505 


strength  of  a  grace  given  to  him,  and  which  constitutes 
the  all  in  all  of  his  sanctification.  We  feel  that  it  is  not  in 
the  power  of  argument,  and  that  it  is  for  his  experience 
alone  to  appreciate  how  mightily  it  conduces  to  the  peace 
of  a  believer,  when  thus  led  rightly  to  divide  the  word  of 
truth,  so  as  to  distinguish  between  the  things  which  differ, 
and  to  be  settled  on  the  righteousness  of  Christ  as  the  only 
foundation  on  which  he  rests,  not  as  the  preparation  of  a 
personal,  but  as  the  plea  of  a  legal  meetness  for  the  rewards 
of  eternity.  If  it  be  through  the  grace  of  the  Spirit  that  he 
is  made  meet  in  person  and  character,  it  is  through  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  made  his  by  faith,  that  he  becomes 
meet  in  law  for  a  share  in  that  inheritance  which  Christ 
hath  purchased  for  all  who  believe  on  Him, 

VOL.  VII. — Y 


CHAPTER  VII. 

GxN  THE  RECIPROCAL  AND  CONJUNCT  INFLUENCES  WHICH 
THE  LIGHT  OF  NATURE  AND  THE  LIGHT  OF  REVELATION 
HAVE  UPON  EACH  OTHER. 

1.  One  of  the  principles  on  which  we  selected  the  moral 
state  of  man  as  our  initial  topic,  when  entering  on  the  sub- 
ject-matter of  Christianity,  was  that  it  presented  a  subject 
which  both  the  light  of  nature  and  the  light  of  revelation 
shone  upon — a  common  ground  which  lay  within  the  domain 
of  the  Christian  theology,  but  was  not  wholly  without  the 
domain  of  the  natural  theology  either.  What  the  Scrip- 
ture tells  of  the  sins,  and  the  sinfulness  and  the  guilt  of  man, 
is  accorded  with  to  a  very  large  extent  by  man's  own  con- 
science. What  the  Bible  says  we  are,  we  find  ourselves 
to  be.  The  Word  of  God  is  said  to  be  a  discerner  of  the 
thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart ;  and,  when  telling  us  of 
these,  it  may  be  said  to  make  them  manifest.  But  what  is 
more  than  barely  making  them  manifest  is,  that  it  makes 
them  manifest  to  ourselves.  But  this  may  not  fully  express 
the  difference  which  we  mean  to  convey.  When  the  Bible 
makes  affirmation  of  human  depravity,  we  have  something 
more  than  the  telling  of  the  Bible  for  it — we  have  the  find- 
ing of  the  man's  own  conscience,  which  gives  its  consent  as 
it  were,  and  closes  with  the  information  that  the  Bible  lays 
before  him.  What  the  Scripture  says  to  be  true,  he  sees  to 
be  true — manifest  not  only  in  the  Scripture,  but  manifest 
also  upon  his  own  heart.  The  same  truth  which  radiates 
upon  him  from  Scripture,  is  also  reflected  to  him  from  his 
own  bosom.  He  views  the  same  thing  as  if  graven  upon 
two  tablets — the  tablet  of  an  outward  revelation,  and  the 
tablet  also  of  his  @wn  character.  As  we  have  heard,  said 
the  Israelites  of  old,  so  have  we  seen  in  the  city  of  our  God. 
As  we  read,  may  the  Christian  now  say,  in  the  pages  of 
God's  word,  so  we  feei  to  be  in  ourselves.     What  is  spoken 


THE  DISEASE.  507 


from  the  Scripture  is  also  spoken  to  the  heart.  The  same 
conviction  may  perhaps  have  arisen  in  the  mind  of  a  reader, 
on  the  naked  assertion  of  the  Scripture  alone,  and  because 
of  the  deference  which  he  yielded  to  its  authority — but  not 
the  same  force  of  conviction,  as  when  the  depositions  of 
Scripture  and  the  depositions  of  the  human  conscience  go 
hand  in  hand. 

2.  But  some  further  consideration  is  necessary  ere  we 
can  have  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  manner  in  which 
this  agreement  between  the  conscience  and  the  Bible  is 
brought  about.  It  is  not  necessary  for  this  purpose  that 
the  conscience  should  have  been  aware  on  the  moment  be- 
forehand of  what  the  Bible  was  going  to  tell — so  as  to  meet 
this  telling  with  a  recognition  that  was  already  full  in  my 
mind,  and  that  immediately  previous  to  the  statements  which 
the  Bible  sets  before  me.  It  is  not  as  if  I  were  hearing 
to-day  the  narrative  of  a  something  which  took  place  yes- 
terday, at  which  I  myself  was  present,  and  of  which  I  kept 
an  entire  recollection — in  which  case  my  own  conscious- 
ness could  vouch  for  the  truth  of  the  report  to  which  I  was 
now  listening.  It  is  more  as  if  I  was  hearing  to-day  the 
narrative  of  a  something  which  took  place  on  some  far  dis- 
tant day  of  my  past  history,  and  which  had  altogether  van- 
ished from  my  thoughts.  There  are  many  events  of  this 
sort,  so  far  lost  and  forgotten,  that  memory,  if  left  to  itself, 
never  would  recall  them  ;  and  yet  when  told  of  it  by  another, 
it  would  come,  not  in  the  shape  of  a  new  information,  but 
in  the  shape  of  an  old  recollection,  awoke  from  its  slumbers 
by  a  voice  ah  extra — and  now  when  awake,  witnessing  for 
the  truth  of  the  utterance  on  a  distinct  and  independent 
knowledge  of  its  own.  Nothing  can  be  more  frequent  or 
familiar  than  the  mental  phenomenon  to  which  I  am  now 
adverting.  There  are  many  thousand  occurrences  of  my 
life,  now  lying  in  deep  oblivion,  and  never,  in  this  world  at 
least,  to  be  brought  forth  of  the  dormitory  where  they  now 
lull  in  profoundest  repose,  and  which  yet  start  into  con- 
sciousness, as  if  awakened  by  a  knocking  at  the  gate,  on  a 
simple  utterance  from  without.     They  are  not  in  my  re- 


508  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

membrance,  and  yet  with  the  most  perfect  readiness  and 
ease  could  be  brought  to  my  remembrance.  They  are  not 
the  objects  of  my  previous  recognition,  and  yet  on  the  mo- 
ment when  I  am  told  of  them,  they  re-appear  on  the  field 
of  memory,  and  become  the  objects  of  my  present  recogni- 
tion. They  had  long  vanished  from  my  own  retrospect  of 
my  own  history  ;  or  at  least  lain  buried  and  out  of  sight  on 
the  field  of  recollection  behind  me.  But  there  is  nothing 
more  certain,  for  it  is  what  we  experience  every  day,  than 
that  by  a  resurrection  as  with  the  power  of  magic,  the  word 
of  an  acquaintance,  like  that  of  a  conjurer,  can  bring  them 
to  life  again.  We  had  lost,  and  if  left  alone  had  lost  irre- 
coverably, all  sense  and  knowledge  of  the  things  which  he 
brings  to  our  ears ;  but  on  the  moment  of  their  being  so 
brought,  this  sense  and  knowledge  are  revived.  I  may 
have  believed  because  he  told  me,  and  I  had  faith  in  his  in- 
tegrity ;  but  I  further  beUeve  on  the  evidence  of  a  con- 
sciousness which  he  himself  had  awakened.  I  have  now 
two  witnesses  instead  of  one,  whereas  before  he  spoke  I 
had  neither  the  one  witness  nor  the  other — not  the  external 
witness,  because  he  had  not  yet  given  his  testimony ;  and 
not  the  internal,  because  profoundly  asleep  till  the  voice  of 
my  informer  had  awakened  it.  He,  in  fact,  both  gives  his 
own  evidence  and  calls  forth  the  evidence  of  another.  He 
not  only  furnishes  me  with  the  argument  of  his  own  trust- 
worthiness for  the  truth  of  his  narrative,  but  he  has  made 
that  argument  manifest  to  my  consciousness.    • 

3.  Now  what  is  true  of  the  memory  is  also  true  of  the 
conscience.  If  the  one  can  be  awakened  by  a  voice  ah 
extra^  so  also  can  the  other.  In  regard  to  the  former  of 
these  faculties,  we  all  know  that  what  has  not  been  kept  in 
remembrance  may  yet  be  called  to  remembrance  ;  and  so 
there  is  not  a  more  famihar  saying  by  one  man  to  another, 
who  may  have  forgotten  something,  than — I  will  bring  it  to 
your  recollection.  Now  this  holds  true  also  of  the  other  of 
these  faculties.  Conscience  may  have  lost  its  sense  of  the 
enormity  of  a  transgression,  the  evil  of  which  and  the  guilt 
of  which  it  would  have  aforetime  shuddered  at.     And  yet 


THE  DISEASE.  609 


this  decayed,  this  extinct  sensibility  of  conscience,  may  be 
revived  by  a  voice  from  without — it  may  be  relumed,  as  it 
were,  rekindled  by  the  testimony  of  other  men.  Often  in 
a  course  of  vicious  indulgence  the  conscience  of  a  man.  may 
sink  into  a  state  of  hebetude  ;  and  the  voice  of  remonstrance 
from  within,  powerful  it  may  be  at  the  outset  of  a  profligate 
and  unprincipled  career,  may  have  wholly  died  away — and 
more  especially  if  the  evil  was  prosecuted  in  secret,  so  as 
to  be  free  of  all  disturbance  from  the  glances  or  the  re- 
proaches of  other  men.  And  yet  when  the  infamy  breaks 
out,  and  the  face  of  society  is  tui-ned,  whether  in  a  leer  of 
universal  contempt,  or  with  the  expression  of  a  severe  in- 
dignancy  on  the  unhappy  culprit,  we  mistake  it  if  we  think 
that  it  is  only  a  sense  of  disgrace  which  overwhelms  him. 
To  the  agony  of  shame  because  of  his  delinquencies  now 
unvailed  to  public  observation,  there  is  superadded  the 
agony  of  remorse  now  astir  within  the  precincts  of  his  own 
bosom — as  if  awakened  from  its  sleep  by  the  touch  of  a  felt 
sympathy  with  the  moral  judgments  of  other  men.  This  is 
a  deeply  interesting  phenomenon,  and  it  might  well  lead  us 
to  anticipate — nay  teach  in  some  measure  to  comprehend 
the  results  of  that  day,  when  the  judgment  from  on  high 
will  be  set,  and  the  books  shall  be  opened.  If  the  reflex 
and  secondary  judgment  of  our  fellow-mortals  can  thus  lay 
us  prostrate  under  an  overwelming  sense  of  sin  and  of 
shame,  what  must  be  the  effect  when  a  countenance  of  re- 
buke is  turned  against  us  from  God  Himself;  and  by  a  light 
struck  out,  as  it  were,  between  the  book  of  His  remem- 
brance and  the  book  of  our  own  consciences,  there  is  super- 
added to  the  shame  and  the  everlasting  contempt  from 
without,  a  sensibility  from  within,  at  present  dormant  though 
not  extinct,  but,  then  in  full  operation,  which  will  so  goad 
and  agonize  us,  as  if  by  the  whip  of  a  secret  tormenter,  that 
we  shall  be  made  to  feel  in  its  dreadful  experience  what  is 
meant  by  the  worm  that  dieth  not — what  is  meant  by  the 
fire  that  is  not  quenched. 

4.  This  will  prepare  you  to  understand  how  it  is,  that 
when,  instead  of  a  particular  fact  in  our  past  history,  long 


510  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

forgotten  but  recalled  to  memory  by  the  voice  of  an  in- 
former, or  rather  of  a  reminder  from  without — or  instead 
of  a  particular  vice  long  indulged  in,  and  without  any  check 
from  an  opposing  conscience  long  dead  to  the  sense  of  its 
enormity,  but  now  seen  to  be  morally  vile  and  hateful 
through  the  operation  of  a  pronounced  judgment  made  to 
bear  down  upon  it  from  the  lips  and  the  eyes  of  other  men 
— how,  when  instead  of  this  a  general  charge  is  preferred, 
or  a  general  characteristic  alleged,  not  perhaps  against  me 
especially,  but  against  humanity  at  large — how  it  is  that  my 
own  consciousness  and  my  own  conscience  may  respond  to 
it,  and  may  constrain  me  to  acknowledge  that  verily  the 
book,  whether  as  read  by  ourselves  or  as  expounded  by  the 
preacher,  which  thus  tells  us,  is  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart,  and  that  verily  God  is  in  it  of  a 
truth.  There  is  one  very  general  charge  of  this  sort 
brought  against  not  ourselves  only  but  the  whole  species ; 
and  this  very  much  one  and  the  same  charge,  though  under 
different  names — as  ungodliness,  and  earthliness,  and  car- 
nality, and  our  being  lovers  of  the  creature  more  than  of 
the  Creator.  Now  when  this  is  brought  home  to  our  con- 
victions, it  is  not  merely  because  of  the  authority  of  the 
book  as  an  informer  of  what  we  are,  but  because  made  to 
feel  that  so  we  are,  through  the  avenues  both  of  conscious- 
ness and  of  conscience — both  of  our  own  memory  and  our 
own  moral  sense.  And  as  if  to  meet  the  peculiarities  of 
each  man,  and  so  gain  over  the  convictions  of  all,  this  charge 
is  preferred  against  us  in  innumerable  forms,  and  couched 
in  a  variety  of  expressions  adapted  to  the  various  habitudes 
and  experiences  of  men  : — "  There  is  none  that  seeketh  after 
God  ;"  "  there  is  none  that  understandeth  God ;"  '^  God  is 
not  in  all  his  thoughts  ;"  "  living  without  God  in  the  world  ;" 
"  turning  every  man  to  hiff  own  way."  These,  and  count- 
less others,  if  urged  with  faithfulness  and  skill,  might  t^ll, 
some  on  one  conscience  and  some  on  another,  and  so  as  to 
convince  all  of  their  moral  and  spiritual  nakedness,  and  of 
their  utter  unmeetness,  as  they  are,  for  acceptance  with  God, 
from  whom  in  fact  they  are  the  willing  outcasts.     Both 


THE  DISEASE.  oil 


consciousness  and  conscience  will  join  in  giving  consent 
and  efficacy  to  this  demonstration — the  one,  if  awakened, 
can  tell  how  truly  it  is  that  pleasure,  or  business,  or  the 
urgencies  of  their  daily  occupation,  all  tend  to  exclude  God 
from  their  habitual  regards,  and  so  as  to  divest  Him  of  any 
practical  ascendency  over  their  desires  or  their  doings  all 
the  day  long.  And  the  other,  if  awakened,  can  tell  of  the 
enormity  of  such  a  habit — the  habit  of  walking  in  the  coun- 
sel of  their  own  hearts,  and  after  the  sight  of  their  own  eyes 
— without  reference  to  Him  who  gives  us  every  breath,  and 
ekes  out  to  us  every  moment  of  our  being.  Such  reflec- 
tions might  never  have  been  called  forth  from  within,  but 
for  the  radiance  made  to  bear  upon  us  from  without,  but 
for  the  entrance  of  those  words  which  give  light  unto  the 
simple,  and  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  their  disease  and 
danger  to  those  who  before  were  unconscious  of  both — be- 
cause alike  ignorant  of  themselves  and  inadvertent  to  the 
law  of  God.  It  is  thus  that  consciousness  and  conscience, 
which,  on  the  question  of  our  guilt  in  the  sight  of  God,  had 
lain  as  two  sleeping  witnesses  within  the  breast,  might  be 
awakened  by  the  voice  of  the  preacher  :  and  hence  the  im- 
portance of  those  sermons  which  treat  powerfully  and  well 
both  of  human  life  and  of  the  divine  law — which  delineate 
with  truthfulness  and  effect  not  the  outward  history  only 
but  the  inward  character  of  man,  and  which  at  the  same 
time  make  vivid  demonstration  both  of  the  commandments 
and  the  high  claims  of  God  upon  his  obedience.  It  is  thus 
that  the  law  is  made  a  schoolmaster  for  bringing  men  to 
Christ.  Men  are  brought  to  know  themselves  sinners,  and 
reduced  to  the  question — what  shall  they  do  to  be  saved  ? 

5.  And  let  it  not  be  thought  that  the  operation,  as  we 
have  now  explained  it,  supersedes  the  work  of  the  Spirit. 
He  throughout,  and  from  first  to  last,  may  be  all  in  all.  All 
which  is  required  to  preserve  His  supremacy  over  this 
great  process,  the  process  of  translation  out  of  darkness 
into  the  marvelous  light  of  the  gospel,  is  to  understand  of 
Him,  that  when  He  convinces  of  sin.  He  acts  upon  man  as 
man ;  and  instead  of  lifting  an  articulate  voice,  or  shining 


f>12  INSTITUTES  GF  THEOLOGY. 

upon  him  by  a  direct  vision,  He  causes  him  both  to  know 
and  to  feel  the  truth  through  the  medium  of  his  own  facul- 
ties. It  is  not  the  Spirit  which  tells  him  of  the  law  of  God, 
it  is  the  Bible  which  tells  him;  but  then  the  Spirit  opens 
his  eyes  to  behold  the  wondrous  things  contained  in  this 
Bible,  which  is  the  book  of  God's  law.  Neither  is  it  the 
Spirit  which  bids  him  consent  to  and  acknowledge  this  law 
as  holy,  just,  and  good — he  is  so  bidden  by  his  own  con- 
science ;  but  then  it  is  the  Spirit  who  enlightens  the  con- 
science, and  awakens  it  to  a  sense  which  it  never  before 
had  of  what  the  creature  owes  to  the  Creator.  And  in  like 
manner,  it  is  not  the  Spirit  who  charges  him  with  his  mani- 
fold delinquencies,  and  in  particular  with  the  great  master- 
sin  of  his  ungodliness — still  it  is  the  Bible  which  thus  charges 
him :  but  the  Spirit  opens  his  understanding  to  understand 
this  Bible,  and  thus  clearly  to  perceive  what  the  articles  are 
of  the  indictment  there  drawn  out  against  him.  And  lastly, 
it  is  not  the  Spirit  who  proximately  or  immediately  responds 
to  the  truth  of  these  charges — his  own  consciousness  responds 
to  it ;  but  still  it  is  the  Spirit  who  has  opened  this  eye  of 
the  inner  man,  so  as  to  discern  the  lineaments  which  are 
graven  on  the  tablet  of  one's  own  character.  In  a  word, 
the  Spirit  reveals  or  makes  palpable  what  is  graven  on  both 
tablets — that  of  the  outward  revelation,  and  that  of  our  own 
hearts ;  and  does  not  overbear  but  gives  effect  to  that  law, 
by  which  the  voice  from  without  calls  forth  the  testimony 
of  a  consenting  voice  from  within ;  and  the  evidence  is 
thereby  elicited  which  gives  rise  to  what  the  Bible  speaks 
of,  as  the  manifestation  of  the  truth  unto  the  conscience. 
And  over  and  above  this,  the  Spirit  gives,  not  the  requisite 
intelligence  alone,  but  the  requisite  sensibility  for  a  humble, 
sorrowing,  conscience-stricken  penitent,  who  under  the 
agitations  of  remorse  and  fear,  feels  that  in  himself  he  is 
undone,  and  seeks  the  way  to  salvation — still  this  is  effected, 
not  immediately  but  mediately,  through  the  operation  of  the 
Spirit  on  the  human  faculties,  who  taketh  away  from  us  the 
heart  of  stone,  and  gives  a  heart  of  flesh  in  its  stead.  He 
sets  up  the  new  creature  within  us ;  but  a  creature  as 


THE  DISEASE.  513 


variously  gifted  as  ever  the  old  creature  was  with  intellect 
and  memory,  and  all  those  powers  of  apprehension  or 
capacities  of  emotion  which  a  true  mental  philosophy  would 
assign  to  the  constitution  of  human  nature.  And  we  are 
not  to  imagine  but  that  in  this  work  of  conviction,  or  even 
of  conversion,  the  whole  is  proceeded  with  in  the  order, 
and  according  to  the  working  of  the  human  faculties.  So 
that  while  admitting  the  entire  mastery  of  the  Spirit  over 
the  whole  operation,  I  should  not  recoil  from  a  phrase  which 
I  believe  has  been  sometimes  made  use  of — the  philosophy 
of  conversion.  It  is  true,  that  the  Spirit  bloweth  where  He 
listeth.  We  cannot  tell  who  the  individual  is  that  He  is  to 
light  upon ;  nor  can  we  assign  the  reason,  why  in  the  new 
creation,  or  under  the  economy  of  grace,  one  man  is  left  in 
spiritual  blindness,  while  another  is  made  wise  unto  salva- 
tion ;  but  neither  can  we  tell  why  in  the  economy  of  nature 
one  man  is  gifted  with  highest  genius,  while  another  is  left 
on  the  humble  platform  of  average  and  every-day  intellect, 
or  even  sunk  far  beneath  it  into  helpless  idiotism.  Still  this 
does  not  hinder  but  that  there  is  a  philosophy  of  the  human 
mind,  competent  to  go  a  certain  way,  both  in  laying  down 
the  map,  and  in  assigning  the  order  and  the  laws  and  the 
working  of  the  human  faculties.  And  in  like  manner, 
though  we  know  not  whence  the  Spirit  cometh,  nor  yet 
whither  or  to  what  man  He  goeth — still  I  do  not  understand 
that  in  operating  on  that  man  He  suspends  or  traverses  any 
of  the  principles  of  our  nature.  The  machinery  of  the 
inner  man  proceeds  with  its  various  evolutions  in  the  order 
of  cause  and  effect  just  as  before.  The  man  reads  his  Bible, 
and  reads  it  with  attention,  although  it  be  the  Spirit  of  God 
who  hath  opened  his  heart,  as  He  did  that  of  Lydia,  to 
attend  to  the  things  which  are  spoken  there.  And  as  the 
fruit  of  this  his  earnest  heed,  the  meaning  of  the  book  may 
at  length  dawn  upon  him,  though  it  be  in  virtue  of  a  light 
from  on  high  which  shone  on  a  dark  place,  and  caused  the 
day  to  dawn  and  the  day-star  to  arise  in  his  heart.  And 
the  lesson  thence  given  forth  of  his  own  sinfulness  may  be 
carried  home  to  his  bosom,  and  be  re-echoed  there — although 


514  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

it  was  the  God  who  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of 
darkness,  that  shone  within  the  chambers  of  his  soul,  and 
so  effected  the  manifestation  of  the  truth  unto  his  conscience. 
There  is  thus  a  series  of  steps,  a  succession  of  mental  ex- 
ercises, which  lead  proximately  and  instrumentally  to  a 
mental  state — even  the  state  of  the  conviction  of  sin ;  and 
yet  it  is  the  office  of  the  Spirit  to  convince  of  sin.  When 
He  comes,  says  the  Saviour,  He  will  convince  the  world 
of  sin  and  of  righteousness  and  of  judgment.  We  hope 
that  you  see  the  consistency  of  these  things.  The  Spirit 
of  God  has  absolute  control  over  the  mechanism  of  the 
spirit  of  man ;  and  yet,  without  disturbance  to  the  opera- 
tions or  the  laws  of  that  mechanism — without  violence  done 
to  any  of  its  principles  or  any  of  its  powers,  He  does  not 
traverse  the  sequences  or  principles  of  the  mental  philosophy 
— He  stimulates  and  gives  a  right  direction  to  them.  The 
attention,  and  the  judgment,  and  the  belief  consequent  on 
evidence,  and  the  action  of  the  intellectual  on  the  active 
powers,  of  the  decisions  of  the  understanding  on  the  sensi- 
bihties  of  the  heart,  or  dictates  of  the  conscience,  or  pur- 
poses of  the  will — all  these,  under  the  guidance  and  by  the 
force  of  the  regenerative  influence  from  on  high,  are  put 
into  busy  play  and  exercise,  but  so  as  to  present  us  with 
the  spectacle  of  a  reading  and  a  reasoning  and  a  resolving 
and  withal  a  rightly  thinking  and  rightly  acting  man — 
whose  Bible  tells  upon  his  conscience,  and  whose  con- 
science awakened  by  the  hght  or  the  voice  from  without, 
gives  back  its  testimony  to  the  Bible — and  this  whether  in 
convincing  him  of  sin,  or  in  converting  him  to  the  Saviour. 
6.^  JNow  that  instrumentality  which  the  Spirit  makes  use 
of,  we,  the  fellow- workers  with  God  in  the  great  business 
of  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  ought  also  to  make  use  of 
He  acts  upon  man  according  to  the  laws  of  his  constitution, 
and  so  ought  we.  He  addresses  Himself  to  man's  under- 
standing, and  conscience,  and  memory,  and  to  the  sensibil- 
ities of  his  heart,  and  to  these  we  should  also  address  our- 
selves. In  particular,  we  should  make  constant  appHance 
of  that  Bible  which  is  the  great  instrument  whereby  the 


THE  DISEASE.  51; 


Spirit  works  ;  and  we  should  labor  to  find  our  way  b}-  it 
to  human  consciences,  to  the  secret  thoughts  and  intents  of 
which  it  is  that  the  Spirit  pierces;  but  still  it  is  by  the  word 
of  the  testimony  as  with  a  probing  instrument  in  His  hand, 
that  He  effects  this  penetration  among  the  arcana  of  the 
inner  man.  It  is  by  an  action  and  re-action  between  these 
two  elements,  the  Bible  and  the  conscience,  that  the  light  is 
struck  out  which  reveals  Christianity  to  the  soul.  And  the 
operation  thus  set  in  motion  is  of  paramount  efficacy  in 
convincing  of  sin,  that  great  initial  lesson  which  lies  at  the 
basis  of  our  faith,  and  by  which  what  the  Bible  says  he  is, 
the  sinner  finds  himself  to  be.  The  tw^o  work,  as  it  were, 
to  each  other's  hands.  The  announcements  from  without 
are  re-echoed  by  a  consenting  testimony  from  within.  And 
he  who,  on  the  one  hand,  is  the  most  intelligent  reader  of 
the  Bible,  and  on  the  other  is  the  most  intelligent  observer 
of  human  character  and  life — so  as  to  be  most  skilled  in  the 
adaptations  of  the  one  to  the  other — he  it  is  who  not  only 
is  the  best  herald  and  expounder  of  the  Bible,  but  the  best 
qualified  to  carry  the  acceptance  of  men  for  this  message 
of  God  to  the  world. 

7.  Let  not  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit,  then,  supersede 
either  your  working  by  the  Bible,  or  your  working  on  the 
consciences  of  men.  The  truth  is  that  it  should  encourage 
the  work — ^jus4  as  it  is  in  the  hope  of  rain  from  heaven  that 
the  operations  of  agriculture  are  carried  forw^ard  in  good 
heart,  and  with  strenuous  perseverance.  And  thus  it  is 
that  the  element  of  living  water  from  on  high  should  give 
both  direction  and  diligence  to  the  whole  business  of  the 
ministry  of  the  gospel.  Both  in  the  natural  and  the  spirit- 
ual husbandry  w^ill  it  be  found,  that  the  provision  from 
above  quadrates  with  the  operations  which  are  carried  on 
below.  As  it  is  only  from  the  field  which  has  been  sown 
and  occupied  with  seed,  that  even  with  the  most  timely  and 
genial  showers  you  can  look  for  the  fruits  of  harvest — so  it 
is  only  from  the  soil  of  the  human  heart,  when  seasoned 
with  the  word  of  God  and  occupied  by  its  truths,  that  even 
with  the  descent  of  grace  from  the  upper  sanctuary,  we 


516  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

can  look  for  the  fruits  of  faith  or  the  fruits  of  righteousness. 
Let  not  the  preacher,  then,  because  of  this  preternatural 
influence,  intermit  any  of  that  tangible  or  natural  work 
which  he  is  called  upon  to  perform.  Let  him  not  think  in 
particular  that  the  law  which  we  have  endeavored  to  ex- 
plain, and  by  which  it  is  that  the  testimonies  of  the  Bible 
from  without  call  up,  as  from  a  dormitory,  the  reminiscences 
and  convictions  which  had  lain  asleep  in  the  storehouses  of 
memory  and  conscience  within — let  him  not  think  that  this 
law  ceases  to  be  available,  now  that  the  Spirit  of  God  hath 
taken  the  whole  work  of  conversion  into  His  own  hand. 
The  work  is  wholly  and  altogether  His ;  but  it  is  not  by 
setting  aside  this  or  any  other  law  of  the  human  constitu- 
tion, that  He  makes  good  the  fulfillment  of  it.  He  pro- 
ceeds with  man  as  man ;  and  it  is  not  by  setting  aside,  and 
far  less  by  destroying  the  machinery  of  his  principles  and 
powers  that  He  accomplishes  His  work  of  a  glorious 
renovation,  but  by  working  that  machinery — insomuch 
that  the  subject  on  whom  He  operates  remains  as  entire  as 
a  man,  as  regular  and  varied  in  all  his  processes  as  ever, 
after  that  he  has  become  a  new  creature  in  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord. 

8.  But  there  is  a  use,  and  that  a  most  importantly  prac- 
tical use,  to  be  made  of  this  doctrine  of  the  Spirit — not 
most  assuredly  to  slacken  our  diligence  in  the  vocation  of 
the  ministry,  but  to  make  us  feel  our  dependence,  and  so  to 
stimulate  our  devotions,  as  that  the  descent  of  this  heavenly 
influence  both  upon  ourselves  and  on  our  people,  shall  be- 
come the  object  of  our  incessant  supplications  and  prayers. 
We  know  not  a  more  instructive  passage  in  the  Bible  than 
that  in  which  we  read  of  the  co-ordinate  rank  given  to 
preaching  and  prayer  by  the  first  teachers  of  Christianity — ■ 
*'  We  shall  give  ourselves  wholly,"  say  the  apostles,  "  to 
prayer  and  to  the  ministry  of  the  word."  Thus  should  we 
exemplify  the  rare  and  precious  combination  of  Christian 
wisdom  with  Christian  piety — the  habit  of  praying  earnestly 
with  the  habit  of  working  diligently — so  as  that  we  shall 
prove  ourselves  ever  busy,  and  that  to  the  uttermost,  with 


THE  DISEASE.  517 


the  doings  of  the  required  service,  while  ever  at  the  same 
time  looking  upward  for  that  influence  from  on  high,  which 
can  alone  sustain  our  doings  and  impart  to  them  all  their 
efficacy.  The  conjunction  of  these  two  is  the  way  to  in- 
sure a  prosperous  Church  and  a  prosperous  ministry ;  for 
if  either  be  apart  from  the  other,  we  have  no  reason  to 
expect  that  a  blessing  will  descend  upon  us.  Performance 
without  prayer  will  be  followed  up  by  an  impressive  mock- 
ery on  all  our  enterprises — prayer  without  performance 
will  be  alike  ineffectual.  Combine  both,  and  the  lights  of 
philosophy  and  experience  will  be  in  unison  with  the  light 
of  faith.  It  is  the  distinction  of  these  which  makes  the  state 
of  religion  in  the  world  so  puny,  and  stunted,  and  scanty  a 
thing  as  we  actually  behold  it.  It  is  forgotten  not  only 
that  God  has  a  part  in  the  prosperity  and  well-doing  of  the 
Church,  but  that  man  has  a  part  also — and  this  latter  with- 
out prejudice  to  the  truth  and  orthodoxy  of  the  doctrine 
that  God  is  all  in  all.  He  not  only  works  directly  Himself; 
but  He  works  through  man,  or  in  man,  both  to  will  and  to 
do :  and  the  effect  of  God's  working  in  man,  is  to  set  man 
w^orking — and  this  latter  is  the  part  which  man  has  in  the 
conjunct  operation  as  a  fellow- worker  with  the  Most  High. 
If  he  stir  not  up  the  gift  which  God  hath  bestowed  on  him, 
we  have  no  reason  to  count  upon  him  as  a  likely  instrument, 
either  for  saving  his  own  soul,  or  the  souls  of  others.  If  it 
be  true,  that  because  God  worketh  in  us  both  to  will  and  to 
do,  we  should  work  out  our  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
with  trembling — we  should  for  the  very  same  reason  labor 
to  work  out  the  salvation  of  others  with  fear  and  trembling 
also.  Paul  labored  among  his  people  in  fear  and  weak- 
ness, and  much  trembling — but  when  he  was  weak,  then 
was  he  strong ;  and  never  in  the  history  of  the  Church  was 
the  union  more  gloriously  manifested  than  by  him,  of  the 
most  incessant  diligence  with  the  most  entire  dependence. 
If  he  worked  without  ceasing,  he  also  prayed  without 
ceasing.  The  heart  and  the  hand  were  alike  true  to  their 
respective  functions — the  piety  which  glowed  in  the  one, 
the  performance  which  kept  the  other  in  constant  and 


518  IN>STITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

strenuous  occupation.  And  it  turned  out,  that  as  he  was 
the  most  learned  and  laborious,  so  also  was  he  the  most 
eminently  successful  of  all  the  apostles ;  and  his  example, 
like  a  light  shining  from  afar,  hath  come  down  to  succeed- 
ing generations.  Let  us  ply  then,  with  all  duteousness,  the 
instrumentality  of  that  Bible  which  God  hath  put  into  our 
hands  ;  and  let  us  adapt  it,  with  all  intelligence,  to  the 
laws  of  that  subject — human  nature — on  which  we  operate. 
For  there  is  nothing  in  the  agency  or  intervention  of  the 
Spirit  to  abrogate  these  laws — nothing  to  traverse  or 
change  the  mechanism  of  our  constitution,  however  essen- 
tial His  operation  may  be  to  repair  and  rectify  the  me- 
chanism, in  order  both  to  set  it  a-going  and  to  keep  it  a-going. 
Let  us  work,  then,  as  if  man  did  aU — let  us  pray  as  if  God 
did  all.  Both  are  true  in  their  respective  senses,  and  most 
harmoniously  true.  Man  is  altogether  subject  to  God — 
yet  not  in  the  way  that  an  inanimate  machine  is  subject  to 
him.  He  must  be  addressed  and  acted  on,  according  to 
the  powers  and  the  properties  which  belong  to  him  as  a 
man — his  understanding,  his  conscience,  his  will,  along 
with  the  various  affections  and  sensibilities  wherewith  his 
Maker  has  endowed  him.  Let  us  suit  our  appliances  to 
the  subject  on  which  we  are  operating — yet  never  cease  to 
look  up  in  devout  supplication  to  Him  who  can  alone  give 
fulfillment  and  effect  to  the  whole  operation. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ON  THE  PRACTICAL  AND  PULPIT  TREATMENT  OF  THIS 
SUBJECT. 

1.  We  know  not  a  titter  theme  than  man's  disobedience, 
along  with  his  consequent  guilt,  for  being  urged  on  the 
conscience  and  the  fears  of  an  ordinary  congregation — 
though  it  should  be  well  understood  by  you,  that,  while  in 
the  dogmatic  treatment  of  this  whole  subject,  there  are 
certain  topics  which  require  a  most  lengthened  and  labori- 
ous exposition,  either  from  the  professor's  chair  or  in  sys- 
tems of  Divinity — there  are  certain  other  topics  which,  for 
the  great  object  of  Christianizing  men,  or  in  the  practical 
treatment  of  the  same  subject,  suit  best  for  the  enforcements 
and  appeals  of  the  pulpit. 

2.  You  are  aware  of  the  virtue  annexed  in  the  Bible 
itself  to  those  convictions  which  are  effected  in  the  minds 
of  men  by  the  manifestation  of  the  truth  unto  their  con- 
sciences. Now  what  is  thus  manifested  must  be  matter  of 
present  sense  and  feeling,  and  not  a  mere  matter  of  past 
history.  When  told  of  what  happened  some  thousands  of 
years  ago,  my  belief  is  carried  through  a  different  medium 
from  what  it  is  when  told  either  of  a  something  in  my  own 
personal  history  or  in  the  actual  state  of  my  heart  and 
character.  In  the  one  case  I  have  faith  in  the  narrative 
of  an  informer  ;  in  the  other  I  have  faith  in  the  immediate 
depositions  of  my  own  memory,  or  my  own  consciousness. 
One  can  understand  how  the  latter  conviction  should  be  of 
a  far  more  intimate  and  affecting  sort  than  the  former,  and 
should  call  forth  the  correspondence  of  a  much  closer  and 
more  powerful  sympathy  between  the  hearer  and  the 
preacher.  We  are  not  making  this  distinction  for  the  pur- 
pose of  laying  an  interdict  on  the  subject  of  Adam's  sin 
and  its  effects  upon  his  posterity,  as  if  these  were  useless 


520  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

or  irrelevant  matters  for  a  serriipn.  We  only  say  that  they 
are  not  matters  by  which  to  impress  or  speak  home  to  the 
consciences  of  men.  They  belong  to  a  far  distant  retro- 
spect in  the  history  of  om'  species ;  and  we  are  brought  to 
the  belief  or  knowledge  of  them  by  the  testimony  of  credible 
histories  and  credible  historians.  It  is  a  very  different  case 
when  we  hear  from  the  pulpit  of  our  own  personal  sins  or 
personal  sinfulness.  This  calls  forth  the  witness  in  our 
own  bosoms ;  and  it  is  on  the  latter  topics,  and  not  on  the 
former,  that  we  command  the  advantage  of  manifesting  the 
truth  unto  the  consciences  of  our  hearers. 

3.  But  that  one  be  convinced  that  he  has  aught  like  an 
adequate  sense  of  his  own  demerits  and  his  own  deficien- 
cies, he  must  have  some  notion  of  the  standard  of  rectitude, 
or  of  that  original  righteousness,  beneath  which  he  has 
fallen.  When  we  speak  of  original  righteousness,  we  do 
not  yet  mean  the  righteousness  in  which  Adam  was  created, 
but  that  high,  original,  and  primitive  rule  of  righteousness 
which  is  set  forth  in  the  law  of  God — whether  as  written 
on  the  heart  or  on  the  tablets  of  a  revealed  jurisprudence. 
We  must  admit  that,  as  written  on  the  heart  of  man,  the 
characters  had  been  greatly  obscured,  though  never  wholly 
obliterated.  The  publication  of  the  gospel  has  done  much 
to  brighten  and  restore  them,  even  among  men  who  have 
not  yet  come  under  the  power  of  the  gospel,  though  greatly 
enlightened  thereby.  And  so  there  is  not  a  congregation 
in  Christendom,  to  whom  if  you  preach  the  law  of  God, 
there  is  not  a  certain  amount  of  moral  light  that  will  give 
a  consenting  testimony  to  the  truth  of  your  demonstration. 
When  you  tell  them  what  they  ought  to  be  and  to  do, 
there  is  that  in  them  which  goes  along  with  the  lesson,  or 
which  acknowledges  the  truth  of  principle  that  is  in  it. 
But  more  is  necessary  ere  the  conviction  of  sin  can  be 
worked  in  their  minds.  They  must  not  only  know  what 
are  the  demands  of  the  law,  but  they  must*  know,  or  be 
sensible,  of  their  own  defects  and  shortcomings  therefrom; 
— in  other  words,  there  must  be  both  a  conscience  and  a 
consciousness  awakened ;  and  whenever  the  law  is  clearly 


THE  DISEASE.  521 


and  vigorously  preached  both  are  set  in  motion- — both  these 
faculties  are  brought  into  play  ;  and  the  sinner  awakened 
by  the  sense  of  guilt,  of  his  own  enormous  and  inexpi- 
able guilt,  is  often  under  this  process  reduced  to  the  ques- 
tion. What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  It  is  thus  that  the  law 
acts  the  part  of  a  schoolmaster  for  bringing  men  to  Christ ; 
and  therefore  I  would  have  you  under  this  head  of  divinity, 
and  for  its  right  pulpit  management,  as  one  of  the  most 
seasonable  and  effective  of  your  lessons,  to  deal  forcibly 
and  frequently  with  your  hearers  on  the  obligation  and 
extent  of  the  law  of  God.  When  the  law  came,  says  the 
apostle,  sin  revived,  and  I  died ;  when  made  to  know  the 
spirituality  and  exceeding  breadth  of  the  commandment,  I 
was  made  at  the  same  time  to  feel  my  own  exceeding 
deficiency  therefrom,  and  so  to  feel  myself  under  sentence 
of  death,  as  being  the  rightful  subject  of  its  condernnation 
and  its  terrors. 

4.  And  to  make  full  use  of  the  law,  it  is  not  enough  that 
you  give  forth  its  demonstrations  of  guilt  to  the  consciences 
of  your  hearers.  There  are  certain  minds,  perhaps,  of 
grosser  temperaments,  that  are  assailed  with  most  powerful 
effect  by  its  denunciations  of  vengeance.  The  apostle  Jude 
evidently  points  to  a  distinction  in  the  treatment  of  different 
classes,  when  he  says — "  Of  some  have  compassion,  making 
a  difference ;  and  others  save  with  fear,  pulling  them  out 
of  the  fire."  The  winning  invitations  of  mercy  tell  most 
influentially  on  the  former,  while  the  latter  need  to  be  driven 
by  the  menaces  of  a  judgment  and  fiery  indignation.  Such 
an  appliance  is  warranted  throughout  the  whole  of  Scrip- 
ture by  a  number  of  examples  beyond  reckoning.  "  Know- 
ing the  terrors  of  the  Lord,"  says  Paul,  "we  persuade 
men."  Men  are  warned  to  flee  from  the  coming  wrath ; 
and  to  turn  them,  turn  them,  for  why  should  they  die  ? 
The  conscience  that  is  within  a  man,  and  which  tells  him 
of  his  innumerable  delinquencies  from  the  perfect  law  of 
rectitude  and  purity  and  godliness,  puts  you  on  a  high  van- 
tage-ground for  bearing  down  upon  his  fears  as  well  as  his 
convictions ;  and  therefore  it  is,  that  when  you  tell  of  their 


522  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

violations  of  the  law,  you  should  also  tell  of  the  law's  dread 
and  innmutable  sanctions,  and  how  sin  involves  in  it  the 
doom  of  an  angry  God  and  an  undone  eternity. 

5.  But  as  it  is  through  their  convictions  that  you  reach 
their  fears,  it  is  of  importance  that  you  so  adapt  your  argu- 
ment, and  so  press  it  home,  as  to  make  the  sinfulness  of 
men  palpable  to  their  consciences.  Now  there  is  a  differ- 
ence in  regard  to  this  among  hearers,  which  requires  a 
corresponding  difference  of  treatment  on  the  part  of  their 
spiritual  teachers  and  guides.  We  press  this  all  the  more 
earnestly  upon  your  attention,  because,  as  we  have  already 
told  you,  there  is  a  certain  sweeping  and  unqualified  style 
of  assertion  upon  the  subject,  in  which  we  think  that  many 
theologians  have  evinced  a  want  both  of  discrimination  and 
delicacy.  We  speak  not  merely  of  the  harshness  by  which 
they  have  revolted  the  feelings — we  speak  of  a  universality 
in  their  charge,  the  vagueness  of  which,  apart  from  its 
vehemence,  is  revolting  to  the  judgment,  or  to  what  may 
be  called  the  experimental  sense  of  truth  among  men.  In- 
stead of  manifesting  the  depravity  of  man's  nature  to  his 
conscience,  they  have  put  the  conscience  into  a  state  of 
remonstrance  against  it ;  nor  can  we  imagine  a  wider  dis- 
crepancy than  that  which  obtains  between  the  doctrine  as 
nakedly  and  roundly  asserted  in  the  article  of  a  confession, 
and  the  doctrine  as  responded  to  by  the  actual  feelings  and 
convictions  of  general  society.  Nothing  can  be  more  un- 
like than  this  said  doctrine  when  viewed  as  a  mere  theo- 
logical category  in  the  manifesto  of  a  Church,  and  the  same 
doctrine  as  felt  and  assented  to  in  the  vast  majority  of 
human  consciences.  We  should  like,  on  the  one  hand,  to 
temper  the  representations  of  fierce  and  flaming  orthodoxy ; 
and  on  the  other,  to  substantiate,  and  on  the  ground  of  ex- 
perience, the  whole  amount  of  those  scriptural  denunciations 
which  respect  the  guilt  and  the  condemnation  of  our  species. 
There  is  enough  in  the  essential  truth  itself  to  provoke  the 
enmity  of  the  human  heart ;  and  it  is  not  desirable  that  the 
enmity  should  be  causelessly  aggravated.  Whatever  is 
true  must  be  submitted  to  and  endured,  however  untaste- 


THE  DISEASE.  523 


ful ;  yet  that  is  no  reason,  but  the  contrary,  why,  without 
occasion,  and  indeed  without  truth  or  justice,  we  should 
wantonly  or  gratuitously  exasperate  the  antipathies  of  men  ; 
and  we  have  long  held  it  fortunate,  that  upon  this  subject 
in  particular,  the  same  consideration  which  serves  to  estab- 
lish the  principle,  serves,  in  some  degree  at  least,  to  soften 
or  disarm  the  prejudice  against  it. 

6.  While  we  maintain,  then,  in  the  theological  sense, 
which  is  the  most  important  of  all,  the  entire  and  universal 
corruption  of  human  nature,  we  concede  to  the  adversaries 
of  this  doctrine  that  there  is  a  sense  in  which  it  may  truly 
be  said  that  there  is  virtue  in  the  world,  and  that  apart  from 
Christianity,  and  beyond  the  circle  of  its  influences  on  the 
character  of  men.  There  is  a  reality,  a  substantive  reality 
and  truth,  in  the  recorded  virtues  of  antiquity.  There 
was  not  merely  the  recognition  of  what  is  right,  but,  in 
some  instances,  and  to  a  certain  degree,  the  observance 
of  it.  There  was  virtue  in  the  continence  of  Scipio  ;  there 
was  virtue  in  the  self-devotion  of  Regulus  ;  there  was 
virtue,  we  have  no  doubt — what  a  philosophical  observer 
of  character  could  not  but  have  marked  and  named  as 
virtue,  in  the  understood  sense  of  the  term — in  the  minds 
of  Socrates  and  Plato.  There  are  certain  outrageous 
defenders  of  orthodoxy,  who,  to  explain  away  these  histori- 
cal proofs,  have  resolved  them  into  the  love  of  applause. 
But,  besides  that  this  argues  a  sense  and  admiration  of 
virtue  among  men — which  surely  is  better  than  if  not 
merely  virtue,  but  even  a  reverence  and  regard  for  it,  had 
no  existence  in  the  species — it  is  opposite  to  all  experience 
and  nature  to  affirm,  that  apart  from  religion,  and  therefore 
apart  from  Christianity,  there  is  really  no  such  thing  as 
social  or  relative  or  patriotic  virtue  in  the  world.  Tiiere 
is  a  native  sense  of  integrity  and  honor  in  many  a  human 
bosom.  There  is  a  felt  obligation  in  truth,  and  there  would 
be  the  utmost  moral  discomfort  attendant  on  the  violation 
of  it.  There  are  not  merely  the  instinctive,  but  the  dute- 
aus  regards  of  kindred  and  companionship,  maintained  by 
thousands  in  society,  not  because  of  the  popularity  which 


524  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

rewards  them,  but  because  of  the  principle  "which  enjoins 
them — in  the  fulfillment  of  which  there  is  the  complacency 
of  an  approving,  and  in  the  transgression  of  which  there 
would  be  the  disquietude  of  a  self-offended  and  therefore  a 
reclaiming  conscience.  There  is  compassion,  not  in  the 
shape  alone  of  a  passive  sensibility  but  of  an  active  prin- 
ciple, strengthened  and  enforced  by  virtuous  considerations, 
prompting  to  the  relief  of  wretchedness,  and  sustaining  a 
habit  of  most  useful  philanthropy.  It  is  neither  wisdom 
nor  truth  to  disallow  these  things — they  are  forced  upon 
our  daily  observation.  We  meet  with  them  in  the  ameni- 
ties of  kind  and  hospitable  intercourse- — we  meet  with  them 
in  the  transactions  of  honorable  business — we  meet  with 
them  both  in  the  generosities  of  the  public  walk,  and  in  the 
thousand  nameless  offices  of  affection  which  take  place  in 
the  bosom  of  families.  Human  nature,  in  some  of  her  good- 
liest specimens,  even  anterior  to  the  touch  of  any  influence 
from  Christianity,  gives  forth  most  pleasing  and  picturesque 
exhibitions  of  virtuousness  ;  and  it  is  not  in  the  povs^er  of  a 
relentless  dogmatism  either  to  do  away  their  reality,  or  to 
do  away  our  admiration  of  them. 

7.  We  should  be  glad  to  admit  all  this,  and  the  more  that 
it  can  be  done  with  all  safety  to  the  theological  position, 
that  man  by  nature  is  in  a  state  of  utter  distance  and  dis- 
ruption from  God.  This  is  the  original  righteousness  from 
which  he  has  so  immeasurably  fallen.  The  moralities 
which  reciprocate  between  man  and  man  upon  earth  have 
not  made  entire  departure  from  the  w^orld.  They  are  the 
moralities  which  connect  earth  with  heaven  that  have 
wholly  disappeared,  and  can  not  be  recalled  but  in  virtue 
of  a  singular  expedient  unfolded  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  brought,  through  the  overtures  of  that  gospel, 
to  bear  upon  the  species.  When  man  is  charged  with 
guilt  in  Scripture — enormous,  inexpiable,  and  infinite  guilt 
— we  rest  the  truth  of  that  charge  upon  his  ungodliness.  It 
is  here  that  the  essence,  that  the  elemental  or  constituent 
principle  of  his  depravity  Hes.  If  this  single  count  be 
made  good,  it  establishes  the  impeachment,  in  whatever 


THE  DISEASE.  525 


way  the  other  counts  and  other  articles  are  disposed  of. 
What  we  affirm  is — examine  the  mental  constitution  of  the 
best  man  upon  earth  who  has  not  been  Christianized,  you 
will  find  the  honesties  and  humanities  of  virtue  there — you 
will  find  the  magnanimous  principle  of  truth  and  equity 
there — you  will  find  family  aflfection  there,  and  withal  find 
the  active  principle  of  benevolence  there ;  but  you  will  not 
find  there  either  a  duteous  or  an  affectionate  sense  of  loy- 
alty to  the  Lawgiver  in  heaven.  You  will  not  accredit 
him  with  godliness  because  he  does  many  things  which 
God  commands,  or  because  he  refrains  from  many  things 
which  God  forbids,  if  it  is  not  because  God  commands  that 
he  does  the  former,  or  because  God  forbids  that  he  refrains 
from  the  latter.  You  will  not  ascribe  to  the  religious  prin- 
ciple what  is  only  due  to  the  social,  or  the  moral,  or  the 
constitutional  principle.  Be  on  your  guard  only  against 
this  delusion ;  and  you  will  at  once  perceive  how  man,  in 
possession  of  many  decencies  and  many  virtuous  accom- 
plishments, may  yet  be  in  a  state  of  entire  spiritual  naked- 
ness. The  Being  who  made  him  is  disowned  by  him — the 
God  from  whom  he  sprung,  and  who  upholds  him  contin- 
ually, is  to  him  an  unknown  and  a  forgotten  thing.  The 
creature  has  broken  loose  from  the  Creator;  and,  unmind- 
ful of  his  ceaseless  and  intimate  dependence  on  the  Power 
who  gave  him  birth,  he  walks  in  the  counsel  of  his  own 
heart,  and  after  the  sight  of  his  own  eyes.  He  has  assum- 
ed the  sovereign  guidance  of  himself;  and  in  so  doing  he 
has  usurped  the  rightful  sovereignty  of  his  Maker.  He  has 
made  a  divinity  of  his  own  will ;  and  the  great  presiding 
Divinity  of  heaven  and  earth,  who  claims  an  ascendency 
over  all  that  He  has  made,  has  been  dethroned  from  the 
ascendency  which  belongs  to  Him  over  the  heart  of  m.an. 
He  hath  turned  him  to  his  own  way — he  now  abandons 
himself  to  the  spontaneity  of  his  own  movements  ;  and  the 
will  of  God  hath  no  practical,  no  overruling  influence  over 
this  self-regulating,  this  self-directed  creature.  In  this 
deep  revolt  of  the  inclinations  from  God :  in  this  lethargy 
of  all  sense  and  all  principle  toward  Him  ;  in  this  profound 


526  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

slumber  that  is  upon  all  eyes,  so  that  the  Being  who  gives 
us  every  breath,  and  upholds  us  in  all  the  functions  and 
faculties  of  our  existence,  is  wholly  unregarded ; — in  this 
there  is  nothing  to  move  the  moral  indignancy  of  our  own 
spirits,  for  the  same  death-like  insensibility  which  prevents 
their  being  alive  to  the  sense  of  God,  prevents  their  being 
alive  to  the  guilt  of  their  ungodliness.  But  in  the  jurispru- 
dence of  the  upper  sanctuary,  this  guilt  is  enormous,  and 
there  brands  us  with  the  character,  even  as  it  has  placed 
us  in  the  condition,  of  accursed  outcasts  from  heaven's 
family.  In  this  world  of  sunken  apathy  toward  God,  there 
is  no  recognized  standard  by  which  to  estimate  the  atrocity 
of  our  moral  indifference  to  Him  in  whom  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being.  But  the  pure  intelligences  of 
heaven  are  all  awake  to  it ;  and  in  that  place  where  love 
to  God  is  the  reigning  affection,  and  loyalty  to  His  govern- 
ment the  reigning  principle  of  every  spirit,  nothing  can 
exceed  the  sense  of  delinquency  wherewith  they  look  on 
the  ingratitude  and  rebellion  of  our  fallen  world.  When 
eying  this  territory  of  practical  atheism,  they  cannot  but 
regard  it  as  a  monstrous  anomaly  in  creation — a  nuisance 
which,  if  not  transformed,  must  at  length  be  swept  away. 
As  contrasted  with  the  pure  services  and  the  lofty  adora- 
tions of  paradise,  they  must  look  on  our  earth,  burdened 
with  a  graceless  and  godless  progeny,  as  a  spectacle  of 
moral  abomination.  This  unnatural  enmity,  or  even  uncon- 
cern, of  man  to  his  Maker,  must  be  to  them  an  object  of 
utter  loathsomeness  ;  and  when  they  look  down  upon  a 
world  that  has  exiled  God  from  its  affections,  they  will  hold 
it  a  righteous  thing  that  such  a  world  should  be  exiled  from 
its  God. 

8.  Such  are  the  views  which  might  be  addressed  with 
good  effect  to  the  men  of  higher  reach  and  refinement  in 
your  congregations.  They  should  be  made  to  perceive, 
and  to  perceive  clearly,  that  the  moral  question  between 
God  and  man  is  one  thing,  the  moral  question  between  man 
and  man  is  another.  The  relation  between  God  above 
and  man  below  may  remain  a  steady  and  invariable  ele- 


THE  DISEASE.  527 


ment,  under  all  conceivable  varieties  of  the  relation  betv^^een 
man  and  man  upon  earth.  One  man  may  be  kind  and  an- 
other cruel  to  his  neighbor,  yet  both  be  equally  disjoined 
from  God.  The  world,  with  the  rational  species  upon  it, 
may  be  adrift  from  Him,  whatever  the  affinities  or  the 
affections  of  the  individual  members  of  that  species  for 
each  other.  The  likest  thing  to  this  part  of  moral  science 
is  that  part  of  physical  science,  where,  in  contemplating  the 
mighty  distance  of  the  sun  from  the  earth,  the  greater  and 
the  less  of  all  earthly  distances  shrink  in  their  comparative 
littleness  to  nothing.  The  doctrine,  when  viewed  in  this 
light,  of  man's  equal  and  universal  corruption,  under  all  the 
varieties  of  social  or  relative  virtue  that  obtain  in  our  world, 
has  in  it  the  largeness  and  comprehensiveness  of  a  high 
philosophy.  The  Copernican  system,  which  elevates  the 
view  from  an  isolated  planet  to  a  universe,  does  no  more 
for  the  material  economy  than  the  evangelical  system  does 
for  the  moral  economy — when,  rising  above  the  consider- 
ation of  men's  reciprocal  duties  and  dealings  with  each 
other,  it  contemplates  the  high  relation  in  which  man 
stands  to  Him  who  is  at  once  the  source  and  center  of  a 
universal  family.  The  man  who  feels  himself  beset  with 
earthly  objects,  and  bounded  by  an  earthly  horizon,  is  in- 
capable of  imagining  those  magnificent  reaches  which 
separate  the  rolling  worlds  from  each  other.  And  so  a 
mere  citizen  of  earth,  who  attends  but  to  the  play  and 
reciprocation  of  those  moralities  which  circulate  from  one 
to  another  in  the  human  family,  may  never  have  lifted  his 
thoughts  to  that  supernal  morality  by  which  the  whole 
human  family  stand  related  to  the  universal  Parent  on 
whom  they  are  suspended.  And  so  their  blindness  to  the 
doctrine  of  man's  universal  corruption  is,  after  all,  but  the 
blindness  of  an  earthly  understanding.  It  evinces  the  same 
contraction  in  regard  to  the  moral  world,  which  they  have 
in  regard  to  the  material,  who  cannot  expatiate  in  thought 
upon  the  vastness  that  lies  beyond  the  limits  of  our  own 
horizon,  and  above  the  canopy  of  our  own  sky.  When  we 
speak  to  them  of  the  great  moral  depravation  which  has 


g-28  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

come  upon  our  species,  they  receive  it  with  increduUty^ 
because  they  can  only  think  of  the  terrestrial  moralities 
which  relate  man  and  man  to  each  other,  and  they  think 
not  of  that  transcendental  morality  which  belongs  to  the 
relation  between  man  and  his  God. 

9.  In  further  illustration  of  this  high  theme,  when  pro- 
pounding it  to  the  more  lettered  of  your  hearers,  you  may 
add  that  the  planet  we  occupy  forms  part  of  the  material 
world ;  and  that  if  it  lost  the  inclination  of  its  gravity  to 
the  sun,  it  would  drift  waywardly  in  space,  and  become  an 
outcast  from  the  harmonies  of  the  great  mundane  system. 
Such  an  arrangement  would  besides  disturb  and  derange 
mightily  the  terrestrial  physics  of  our  globe,  yet  without 
their  annihilation  or  the  entire  reversal  of  any  of  their 
laws — for  still  might  magnetism  and  cohesion  and  chemis- 
try retain  their  wonted  affinities,  and  produce  their  wonted 
effects,  even  on  the  surface  of  this  stray  world.  And  so 
the  rational  species  by  whom  our  planet  is  inhabited,  form 
part  of  the  moral  world  ;  and,  should  the  hold  of  our  alle- 
giance to  God  be  broken,  we  quit  the  place  that  belonged 
to  us,  and  wander  afar  from  God's  spiritual  and  unfallen 
family.  Such  an  event  must — such  an  event  has — intro- 
duced the  utmost  derangement  and  disorder  both  into  the 
relations  and  the  ethics  of  our  terrestrial  society.  Yet  it 
has  not  utterly  destroyed  these  relations,  nor  has  it  utterly 
extinguished  the  ethics ;  and  there  do,  in  the  midst  of  all 
our  alienation  from  God — there  do,  after  the  extinction  of 
all  true  religious  principle,  survive  other  principles  that 
operate  beauteously  and  beneficially  among  the  families  of 
earth.  There  still  subsist  many  of  the  equities  of  social 
life,  many  of  the  charities  of  home  and  kindred,  many  of 
the  courtesies  not  of  manner  alone,  but  of  honest  friendship, 
many,  in  short,  of  the  honorable  and  kind-hearted  virtues  of 
good  citizenship — the  citizenship  of  the  world,  we  mean, 
though  we  have  no  part  in  the  citizenship  of  heaven.  It  is 
not  needed,  to  prop  the  cause  of  orthodoxy,  it  is  not  needed 
harshly  to  refuse  them,  as  has  been  done  by  many  a  stern 
theologian.    There  are  undoubted  virtues  in  the  world — but 


THE  DISEASE.  529 


still  the  virtues  of  a  world  which,  in  reference  to  God,  is 
lying  in  wickedness.  There  are  the  affinities  and  the  duties 
of  brotherhood  amongst  us — but  such  a  brotherhood  as  we 
might  observe  among  exiles,  whom  their  crimes  have  sepa- 
rated from  the  community  which  gave  them  birth.  We 
have  not  entirely  broken  out  among  ourselves ;  but  we  have 
entirely  broken  with  our  God.  We  have  laws  of  our  own 
which  we  may  or  may  not  inviolably  adhere  to — laws  of 
state,  laws  of  honor,  laws  of  conventional  morality;  but 
the  law  of  love  to  God  has  lost  its  hold  of  us  ;  and  before 
the  justice  that  sits  on  His  eternal  throne  we  must  all  lie 
low  in  the  abyss  of  condemnation.  We  may  range  the 
better  and  the  best  of  such  a  world  around  a  terrestrial 
standard;  but  under  this  celestial  standard,  to  speak  of - 
sinners  greater  and  less,  is  to  speak  of  distances  greater 
and  less  of  earthly  places  from  the  sun.  God  reads  on  every 
forehead  the  characters  of  revolt  and  dissatisfaction  against 
Himself;  He  looks  across  a  dreary  gulf  of  separation  from 
us  all,  and  finds  that  there  is  none  who  understandeth,  none 
who  seeketh  after  God. 

10.  After  having  removed  the  preju<iices  and  antipathies 
of  the  higher  class  of  hearers,  you  will  find  that  the  great 
argument  for  convincing  of  sin  is  with  all  classes  a  direct 
appeal  to  their  consciences  ;  and  that  this  is  generally  the 
way  in  which  the  lesson  is  carried.  It  is  just  by  telling  all 
of  their  ungodliness.  The  considerations  hitherto  adduced 
are  of  chief  effect  on  the  literary  and  cultivated  classes, 
whose  taste  and  admiration  are  on  the  side  of  virtue  ;  and 
who  need  to  be  told  how  it  is,  that,  even  with  the  admis- 
sion of  all  the  virtue  which  they  would  ascribe  to  our 
nature,  the  tremendous  charges  and  denunciations  of  Scrip- 
ture remain  unbroken.  The  people  at  large  have  not  the 
same  prejudices  of  imagination  to  obstruct  the  entry  of  the 
truth  into  their  minds.  They  will  bear  to  be  told  of  their 
depravity ;  but  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that,  instead 
of  the  form  of  sound  words  which  play  upon  the  ear,  their 
consciences  should  become  tenderly  and  intelligently  alive 
to  it.     For  this  purpose,  you  can  bid  them  recollect  the 

VOL.  VII. — Z 


liSO  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

tenor  of  their  thoughts  and  feelings  on  any  ordinary  day. 
You  can  ask  them  how  much  or  how  little  the  conception 
of  God  is  in  their  minds  from  one  end  of  the  week  to  the 
other  of  it.  You  can  urge  on  them  their  undoubted  heed- 
lessness both  of  God  and  of  His  law.  You  can  represent 
the  paramount  claims  of  the  Creator  over  the  creature,  to 
whom  he  has  given  birth  and  being  ;  and  then  put  it  to  them 
how  miserably  short  they  are  of  the  adequate  loyalty,  of 
the  adequate  obedience.  The  very  words  of  Scripture,  va- 
riously but  most  significantly  expressive  both  of  God's  glory 
and  man's  guiltiness,  will  tell  on  the  unsophisticated  minds 
of  the  peasantry  ;  and  whether  its  declarations  relate  to  the 
prerogatives  of  God's  lofty  and  unchangeable  law,  or  to 
their  own  infinite  deficiency,  they  have  both  a  conscience 
and  a  consciousness  that  will  respond  to  them.  This  is 
substantial  preaching  ;  and  on  its  efficacy  it  depends  wheth- 
er Christ  be  lightly  esteemed  by  them,  or  it  fall  with  ac- 
ceptance on  their  ears,  that  unto  them  a  Saviour  has  been 
born. 

11.  It  is  such  demonstration  as  this  that  places  you  on 
high  vantage  ground  for  making  the  people  understand  that 
in  themselves  they  are  the  outcasts  of  a  hopeless  condem- 
nation. It  is  a  principle  in  jurisprudence  which  admits  of 
easy  vindication,  and  which  accords  with  the  practice  of 
all  earthly  governments,  that  if  a  man  oflfend  in  one  point 
he  is  guilty  of  all — at  least  in  so  far  as  to  have  put  the  law 
into  the  relation  of  a  displeased  and  avenging  enemy  toward 
him.  With  what  emphasis  then  might  you  urge  the  men- 
aces and  the  terrors  of  its  outraged  authority — when,  ground- 
ing your  argument  on  the  ungodliness  of  your  hearer,  you 
convict  him  of  revolt  against  God  in  the  highest  part  of  his 
nature,  and  that  not  in  one  act  merely,  but  in  a  ceaseless 
and  inveterate  habit  of  disobedience.  Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  is  the  first  and  the  greatest 
commandment.  On  this  you  might  prefer  against  one  and 
all  of  your  hearers  the  charge  of  the  first  and  the  greatest 
disloyalty;  and  so,  urging  home  the  law's  uncomprising  dig- 
nity, the  awful  certainty  and  immutability  of  its  sanctions, 


THE  DISEASE.  531 


the  high  state  and  authority  of  the  Divine  government, 
under  which  it  is  impossible  for  sin  to  pass  without  a  pun- 
ishment or  without  an  expiation,  may  you  shut  them  up 
unto  the  faith. 

12.  But  the  question  still  remains — In  what  way,  or  rather 
in  what  order,  should  certain  higher  views  dehvered  from 
the  Chair,  and  more  especially  those  on  the  imputation  of 
Adam's  sin,  be  delivered  from  the  pulpit  ?  In  a  former 
Lecture  we  spoke  of  the  manner  in  which  certain  advocates 
of  an  immediate  imputation  would  force  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  their  doctrine  on  the  understandings  of  men — and 
this  to  a  greater  extent  than  the  understanding  is  able  for. 
We  might  have  a  clear  comprehension  of  what  the  doctrine 
is — we  might  have  a  thorough  conviction  of  its  truth  from 
the  statements  and  testimonies  of  Scripture,  and  yet  not  be 
able  to  see  the  grounds  of  it  in  the  reason  and  nature  of 
things.  There  are  theologians  who  profess  a  deeper  insight 
than  this ;  and  would  tell  us  that  not  only  so  it  is,  but  also 
tell  us  how  it  is.  There  seems  to  be  presumption  enough 
in  not  being  satisfied  with  the  authoritative,  though  naked 
and  simple  averments  of  the  Bible ;  but  the  presumption 
becomes  far  more  intolerable  when  they  would  force  the 
acceptance  of  their  dogmata  on  other  minds  than  their  own, 
and  w^ould  charge  it  as  a  shortcoming  from  orthodoxy,  that 
we  can  not  sympathize  with  their  confident  reasonings,  on 
the  terms  of  the  federal  relationship  between  God  as  the 
lawgiver,  and  Adam  as  the  head  and  representative  of  all 
his  posterity.  It  seems  more  like  the  humility  of  a  little 
child  to  take  what  Scripture  tells  of  this  matter  on  the 
authority  of  Scripture  alone,  and  not  to  attempt  the  invest- 
ing of  it  with  light  from  another  quarter,  as  if  we  beheld  its 
place  and  its  principle  in  a  system  of  natural  jurisprudence, 
and  so  could  expatiate  upon  it  in  the  same  style  of  intel- 
lectual mastery,  as  if  we  w^ere  engaged  with  a  demonstra- 
tion in  any  of  the  natural  sciences. 

13.  Now,  to  pass  from  the  scientific  to  the  pulpit  or  the 
practical  treatment  of  this  high  theme,  what  we  have  to 
complain  of  is,  that  the  very  same  force  which  theologians 


632  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

■would  practice  on  the  understandings,  is  sometimes  prac- 
ticed by  ministers  and  practical  writers  on  the  consciences 
of  men.  One  of  the  greatest  services  which  can  be  effected 
in  the  work  of  Christianization  is  to  convince  men  of  sin ; 
and,  instrumentally  speaking,  we  hold  the  best  way  of  doing 
this  is,  to  make  each  man's  own  sinfulness  manifest  to  each 
man's  own  conscience.  But  we  can  not  think  it  a  judicious 
or  an  effectual  procedure — -when,  instead  of  charging  a 
reader  or  hearer  with  the  guilt  of  his  own  delinquencies  or 
the  ungodliness  of  his  own  natural  habit,  he  is  charged,  and 
often  at  the  outset  of  the  demonstration,  as  if  this  were  the 
right  chronological  order,  with  the  guilt  contracted  by  Adam 
in  Paradise.  There  is  that  in  a  man's  conscience,  even  in 
his  natural  conscience,  which  will  go  along  with  the  first 
charge.  There  is  not  that  in  it  whick  will  go  along  with 
the  second  ;  and  therefore  this  might  be  a  most  inappropri- 
ate topic  to  begin  with — seeing  that  the  great  efficacy  of 
preaching  lies  in  the  manifestation  which  it  makes  of  truth 
to  the  conscience.  And  yet  there  are  ministers  who,  as  if 
in  a  tone  of  moral  indignancy  or  of  zeal  for  the  honor  of  the 
law  and  of  the  Lawgiver,  will  tell  their  people,  and  on  the 
very  first  introduction  of  their  argument,  of  their  foul  and 
daring  rebellion  against  God — in  that  they  partook  with 
Adam  of  the  disobedience  committed  by  him  in  the  garden 
of  Eden.  Why,  their  conscience  will  no  more  go  along 
with  this  affirmation,  than  if  told  that  they  partook  with 
Adam  of  that  apple  which  was  given  him  by  Eve  after  she 
had  pulled  it  off  the  tree.  This  is  really  not  the  way  by 
which  to  enlist  the  conscience  on  the  side  of  Christianity ; 
and  the  minister  who  adopts  it  lies  open  to  the  charge  of 
consulting  his  own  credit  by  the  flaring  exhibition  which  he 
makes  of  his  own  orthodoxy,  rather  than  consulting  the  ad- 
vantage of  his  hearers.  It  is  fitted,  in  truth,  to  set  the  con- 
science into  a  state  of  revolt  and  resistance  against  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  ;  and  we  are  fully  persuaded  of  that 
high  wisdom — the  wisdom  we  mean  of  winning  souls — that 
it  would  proceed  differently — would  address  itself  differ- 
ently to  the  task.     It  would  lay  no  injurious  stress  at  the 


THE  DISEASE.  533 


commencement  of  this  great  undertaking,  on  the  minds  and 
consciences  with  which  it  was  in  the  act  of  dealing.  This 
doctrine  of  an  immediate  imputation  would  not  form  the 
topic  of  any  of  its  primary  demonstrations,  but  would  be 
kept  in  reserve  for  a  higher  stage  in  the  scholarship  of  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  For  such  a  distinction  as  we  now 
point  at  between  the  prior  and  ulterior  lessons  of  the  Chris- 
tian course,  we  have  the  sanction  of  manifold  examples  in 
the  teaching  both  of  Christ  and  His  apostles.  Our  Saviour 
taught  His  disciples  as  they  were  able  to  bear  it.  He  re- 
frained at  the  outset  of  His  ministry  from  entering  on  such 
topics  as  were  too  hard  for  them.  He  taught  them  to  be- 
ware of  putting  new  wine  into  old  bottles  ;  and  often  in  the 
teaching  of  His  immediate  followers,  do  we  recognize  the 
wisdom,  and  the  tact,  and  the  delicacy  by  which  they 
suited  their  instructions  to  the  apprehensions  and  the  prog- 
ress of  those  with  whom  they  had  to  do.  There  is  none 
who  adverts  more  frequently  than  Paul  to  this  distinction 
between  the  preliminary  and  the  advanced  lessons  of  what 
may  be  termed  the  religious  education  of  his  converts — 
dealing  out  milk  to  babes,  and  strong  meat  to  those  of  full 
age — charging  the  former  with  being  still  carnal,  and  des- 
ignating the  latter  as  those  who  had  attained  to  the  station 
of  spiritual  men — telling  us  of  a  progress  or  going  on  from 
the  first  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  to  a  subsequent 
perfection,  attained  by  as  many  as  were  perfect ;  and  so 
he  spake  a  higher  wisdom  among  those  that  were  perfect, 
observing  a  skillful  adaptation  to  the  state  and  proficiency 
of  the  various  classes  among  his  converts.  He  had  both 
the  wisdom  of  one  who  could  lay  well  the  foundation,  and 
also  of  one  who  was  a  wise  master-builder.  But  he  would 
make  use  of  the  proper  materials  for  each,  and  not  confound 
the  things  which  were  fit  for  the  superstructure  with  the 
things  which  belonged  to  the  lower  part  of  the  building. 
His  theology  embraced  both  the  elementary  and  the  trans- 
cendental ;  and  Peter  was  fully  aware  of  this  distinction, 
when  he  warned  those  disciples  who  had  only  yet  attained 
to  the  former,  against  a  precipitate  and  premature  entry 


534  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

upon  the  latter — ascribing  those  higher  lessons  of  Paul  to 
the  higher  wisdom  that  had  been  been  given  to  him  ;  but 
at  the  same  time  intimating  the  dangerous  use  which  migiit 
be  made  of  them  by  those  who  had  reached  but  a  lower 
degree  of  wisdom.  In  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  he  tells  us 
there  "  are  some  things  hard  to  be  understood,  which  they 
that  are  unlearned  and  unstable  wrest,  as  they  do  also  the 
other  Scriptures,  to  their  own  destruction." 

14.  It  is  thus  that  I  would  have  a  minister  of  the  gospel 
address  himself  to  the  subject  of  human  sinfulness.  The 
law  is  said  to  be  a  schoolmaster  for  bringing  men  to  Christ ; 
and  he  should  preach  the  law  to  his  hearers,  both  in  its 
extent  and  in  its  terrors.  It  is  thus  that  he  speaks  at  once 
to  the  consciences  and  to  the  fears  of  men.  In  making 
known  to  them  the  lofty  and  spiritual  commandment  of 
God,  he  lights  up  within  them  a  sense  of  their  own  defi- 
ciencies, and  of  their  condemnation  at  the  bar  of  the  holy 
and  august  Lawgiver.  But  this  is  done  only  by  making 
bare  their  own  personal  delinquencies  to  the  eye  of  their 
own  consciousness.  History  might  tell  them  of  Adam  and 
of  his  doings — revelation  might  tell  them  of  that  mysterious 
ordination  in  the  jurisprudence  of  God,  by  which  He  deals 
with  mankind  as  if  they  had  partaken  of  Adam's  disobedi- 
ence— but  conscience  can  tell  them  only  of  their  own  diso- 
bedience. This  is  the  faculty  which  takes  no  cognizance 
of  the  matters  that  lie  beyond,  but  only  of  the  matters  that 
lie  within  our  own  personal  experience.  It  is  true  that 
memory  has  to  do  with  conscience  ;  but  it  is  the  memory 
only  of  our  own  things,  not  the  memory  of  what  has  been 
done  by  others,  but  of  what  has  been  done  by  ourselves. 
If  we  desire,  then,  to  ply  what  the  Bible  speaks  of  as  the 
great  instrument  of  conversion,  which  is  the  manifestation 
of  truth  unto  the  conscience — our  demonstration  must  be, 
not  of  what  history  tells  respecting  the  transactions  of  a 
former  age  long  gone  by,  but  of  what  conscience  tells,  or 
what  the  awakened  conscience  will  respond  to,  respecting 
a  present  sinfulness.  The  doctrine  of  Adam's  imputation 
may  be  a  word  of  wisdom  to  those  who,  now  past  the  birth 


THE  DISEASE.  535 


of  their  Christianity,  are  going  on  unto  perfection  ;  but  most 
assuredly  it  is  not  a  word  in  season  either  for  the  convic- 
tion or  the  alarm  of  unconverted  sinners.  In  dealing  with 
them,  the  matter  on  hand  is  their  own  profligacy,  their  own. 
profaneness,  their  own  open  defiance  to  the  authority  of 
God,  or  daring  violations  of  His  law  ;  or,  in  the  absence  of 
these  and  such  other  glaring  iniquities,  their  own  deep  and 
cleaving  ungodliness,  their  devotion  to  earth  and  its  short- 
lived interests,  their  heedlessness  of  eternity,  and  practical 
unconcern  about  God.  It  is  not  by  charging  men  with  the 
guilt  of  a  transaction  which  took  place  thousands  of  years 
ago — it  is  not  thus  that  you  will  enlist  their  consciences  on 
the  side  of  your  high  argument.  It  is  by  charging  them 
with  the  guilt  of  sins  which  their  own  hands  have  commit- 
ted, and  of  a  sinfulness  which  vitiates  every  affection  and 
desire  of  their  own  hearts.  There  may  be  other  and  higher 
lessons  in  the  scholarship  of  Christianity ;  but  this  is  the 
rudimental  lesson  of  the  course — the  great  lesson  to  begin, 
with  ;  and  to  mix  up  with  this  initial  and  elementary  teach- 
ing any  demonstration  of  our  sinfulness  in  Adam,  is  alto- 
gether a  premature  attempt  on  the  part  of  an  over-zealous 
orthodoxy — fitted  to  mystify  the  understanding,  and  to  repel 
the  conscience,  and  to  scare  away  the  approaches  of  him 
who,  under  another  treatment,  might  have  become  a  hope- 
ful inquirer  after  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  We  can  not 
imagine  a  more  grievous  impolicy  than  thus  to  pluck  from 
the  altitudes  of  a  transcendental  theology  a  recondite  and 
mysterious  topic  wherewith  to  darken  our  entrance  upon 
its  studies — and  more  especially  when  there  is  so  much  of 
the  plain,  and  the  clear,  and  the  unquestionable,  for  giving 
us  the  right  impulse  and  pointing  out  to  us  the  right  direc- 
tion, at  the  outset  of  our  religious  earnestness.  Surely 
there  is  enough  of  the  palpable  in  our  own  actual  sinfulness 
and  actual  sins,  in  our  personal  liabilities  to  the  vengeance 
of  an  angry  God,  in  the  condemnation  that  lies  upon  us,  in 
the  reckoning  and  then  the  judgment  that  await  us,  because 
of  our  own  proper  deservings  and  of  what  ourselves  have 
done — there  is  strength  enough  of  argument  in  these  to 


536  mSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

convince  and  to  alarm  us — enough  to  make  it  manifest  even 
in  the  light  of  our  ov^rn  minds,  that  we  are  in  the  hands  of 
an  offended  Xawgiver — enough  to  invest  with  all  the  fear- 
ful importance  which  attaches  to  a  question  of  life  or  death, 
the  great  question  of  our  eternity ;  and  to  prompt  the  im- 
ploring cry  of — Wherewith  shall  we  appear  before  God  ? — 
What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ? 

15.  It  is  in  the  anxious  prosecution  of  this  question,  and 
under  the  guidance  of  that  Spirit  who  convinces  of  sin,  that 
our  footsteps  are  led  to  the  Saviour,  and  our  eyes  are  made 
to  behold  Jesus  Christ  as  set  forth  to  us  in  the  gospel.  It 
is  not  then,  most  assuredly,  that  curiosity  is  the  predomi- 
nant feeling  of  the  mind.  There  is  neither  room  nor  leisure 
for  the  exercise  of  this  faculty,  when  agitated  by  the  terrors 
of  the  law,  and  casting  about  in  uncertainty  and  fear  for  the 
method  of  our  deliverance  therefrom.  At  such  a  season 
the  practical  overbears  the  speculative,  or  keeps  it  in  abey- 
ance ;  and  could  we  only  be  made  to  know  on  satisfying 
evidence  what  the  way  or  the  scheme  of  salvation  is,  it  is 
not  a  mere  intellectual  difficulty  which  attaches  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  scheme,  or  to  the  rationale  of  our  salvation,  that 
would  repel  us  from  the  acceptance  of  it.  There  may  be 
a  broad  and  overpowering  evidence  that  so  it  is,  even  in 
the  midst  of  profound  darkness  on  the  question  of  how  it  is. 
It  is  thus  that  in  the  face  of  all  difficulties,  the  salvation  by 
Jesus  Christ  as  made  known  to  us  in  the  New  Testament, 
bears  such  unquestionable  signatures  of  tenderness  and  truth 
as  to  recommend  itself  to  many  a  conscience-stricken  sin- 
ner as  indeed  being  worthy  of  all  acceptation.  When  they 
read  of  Christ  having  taken  upon  Himself  the  burden  of  our 
condemnation,  of  His  dying  an  expiation  for  our  offenses, 
of  His  having  become  sin  for  us  though  He  knew  no  sin, 
and  all  that  a  God  of  everlasting  and  unchangeable  justice 
might  at  the  same  time  be  a  Saviour — there  is  in  all  this  so 
much  to  pacify-  the  fears  of  guilt  even  in  the  full  view  of 
Heaven's  august  and  inviolable  sacredness,  that  the  specta- 
cle of  the  Cross,  and  the  v/ondrous  harmony  which  it  ex- 
hibits of  the  truth  and  the  mercy  that  meet  together  there, 


THE  DISEASE.  537 


is  not  only  fitted  to  draw  all  men  toward  it,  but  to  convince 
them  of  its  being  indeed  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom 
of  God  for  the  redemption  of  a  world  that  had  wandered 
away  from  Him — a  method  devised  in  love  by  Himself  for 
the  recovery  of  His  strayed  children.  But  when  we  thus 
acquiesce  in  the  way  of  salvation  as  the  very  way  suited 
to  us,  and  this  on  the  evidence  of  its  felt  Divine  adaptation 
to  the  wants  of  our  moral  nature,  we  give  our  ready  con- 
sent to  the  doctrine  of  imputation.  There  is  no  quarrel  on 
our  part  with  the  imputation  of  Christ's  righteousness.  We 
feel  our  need  of  it,  and  we  thankfully  close  with  it ;  and  we 
do  not  repel  the  mercy  which  has  brought  it  to  our  doors, 
because  there  is  in  it  a  depth  and  a  mystery  of  love  which 
we  do  not  comprehend.  And  yet,  viewed  as  a  question  of 
jurisprudence,  the  same  speculative  difficulty  attaches  to 
this  as  to  any  other  mode  of  imputation.  When  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ  is  accepted  by  God  as  our  righteousness, 
or  when  this  righteousness,  though  achieved  by  another,  is 
reckoned  unto  us,  there  is  the  like  inscrutable  policy  in  such 
an  administration  as  when  the  guilt  of  Adam  is  made  our 
guilt — or  as  when  the  guilt  contracted  by  another  is  reck- 
oned unto  us.  Now  what  we  contend  for  is,  that,  whether 
in  a  series  of  instructions  from  the  pulpit,  or  in  the  process 
of  dealing  in  private  with  individual  consciences,  your  first 
notices  of  such  a  peculiarity  in  the  government  of  that  Being 
whose  thoughts  are  not  as  man's  thoughts,  and  whose  ways 
are  not  as  man's  ways,  should  be  associated  with  the  offers 
of  an  imputed  righteousness,  and  not  with  the  denunciations 
of  an  imputed  guilt.  There  is  a  sense  or  conviction  of  sin 
which  is  preparatory  to  the  acceptance  of  the  Saviour  ;  but 
it  is  not  by  telling  the  inquirer  of  his  sin  in  Adam  that  you 
help  forward  that  conviction.  Tell  him  of  his  own  sin. 
Lay  home  to  him  the  guilt  of  his  ungodliness.  Speak  of 
the  great  moral  enormity  which  lies  in  the  aversion  of  his 
mind,  or  at  the  very  least  in  its  indifference  to  God.  Unfold 
to  him  the  dependence  and  therefore  the  duty  which  sub- 
sists between  the  creature  and  the  Creator,  to  whom  it 

owes  birth  and  being  and  its  capabilities  of  enjoyment,  and 

2# 


538  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

the  continuance  of  these  throughout  every  moment  of  its 
Hving  existence.     Charge  him,  as  does  the  apostle,  with  the 
grievous  deUnquency  of  not  seeking  after  God,  and  falling 
short  in  all  things  of  His  glory.     At  this  stage  of  tuition, 
treat  with  him  in  his  own  person,  and  on  the  score  of  his 
own  personal  delinquencies ;  and  if  another  person  is  at 
length  to  be  introduced,  between  whom  and  him  you  are  to 
announce  an  exchange  of  rights  or  of  responsibilities,  let 
the  first  be  Jesus  Christ  with  the  everlasting  righteousness 
which  He  has  brought  in,  and  which  is  unto  all  and  upon 
all  who  believe.     Let  this  mystery  in  the  jurisprudence  of 
God's  dealing  with  His  subjects  be  first  presented  to  him  as 
the  vehicle  of  that  mercy  which  is  offered  to  us  in  the  gos- 
pel, whereby  the  guilt  of  our  own  deservings  is  laid  upon 
another,  and  the  righteousness  of  His  deservings  is  laid 
upon  us :  and  all  this,  you  will  observe,  previous  to  any  in- 
timation on  your  part  that  the  guilt  of  another's  deservings 
has,  by  the  constitution  of  that  economy  under  which  we 
are  placed,  been  laid  upon  us.     In  the  earlier  lessons  of 
Christianity,  and  when  directly  dealing  with  human  con- 
sciences, the  demonstration  of  man's  guilt  takes  precedency 
of  the  declaration  of  God's  mercy  ;  and  man  must  be  made 
to  know  and  to  feel  that  he  is  a  sinner,  ere  he  will  welcome 
or  receive  the  tidings  of  a  Saviour.     It  is  in  the  ulterior 
lessons,  and  when  speaking  to  men  whether  on  the  eve  of 
conversion  or  for  their  further  confirmation  in  the  truth  as 
it  is  in  Jesus,  that  this  matter  of  imputation  comes  in  our 
way,  this  substitution  of  one  for  another,  so  that  the  right- 
eousness or  guilt  of  the  former  is  made  the  righteousness  or 
guilt  of  the  latter  also.     It  is  now  that  the  order  of  prece- 
dency ought  to  be  reversed,  and  the  doctrine  of  God's  good- 
ness to  us  in  Christ  should  come  before  the  doctrine  of 
God's  severity  in  Adam — the  doctrine  of  what  we  are  offered 
in  Christ  before  the  doctrine  of  what  we  have  suffered  or 
lost  in  Adam.     To  convert  men,  we  have  to  tell  of  the  pen- 
alties which  Christ  hath  borne,  and  of  the  merits  which  He 
hath  achieved  for  them  ;  and  so  of  the  rightful  immunities 
and  the  rightful  privileges  which,  as  the  reward  of  His  obe- 


THE  DISEASE.  539 


dience  and  not  of  their  own,  are  now  laid  for  acceptance 
at  their  doors.  And  then,  not  to  convert  men  but  to  con- 
firm them  in  the  truth  which  they  have  already  received,  is 
the  doctrine  of  Adam's  imputation  given  forth  as  the  lesson 
of  a  higher  wisdom  addressed  to  those  who  are  thus  far 
perfected  in  their  Christian  education.  It  is  after  they  have 
become  heirs  of  Christ,  and  partakers  with  Him  in  the  re- 
wards of  the  obedience  of  the  second  Adam,  that  they  are 
told  of  their  guilt  and  corruption  by  nature,  as  having  been 
the  analogous  forfeitures  incurred  by  the  disobedience  of 
the  first  Adam,  who  had  entailed  on  his  posterity  the  bur- 
den of  all  the  debt  which  himself  had  contracted,  and  of  all 
the  depravity  which  himself  had  taken  on  and  transmitted 
to  his  children.  In  every  thing  let  me  give  thanks.  If,  in 
virtue  of  my  descent  from  Adam,  I  have  been  made  to 
share  in  all  the  disabilities  he  inflicted  on  our  species,  in 
virtue  of  my  connection  with  Christ — a  connection  which 
one  and  all  are  invited  to  enter  on — I  am  made  to  share  in 
all  the  benefits  of  His  mediatorship.  The  infliction  but  for 
a  moment  is  as  nothing  when  compared  with  the  eternal 
and  exceeding  weight  of  that  glory  which  the  other  has 
purchased  for  my  rightful  and  everlasting  inheritance. 

16.  This  is  the  very  way  in  which  Paul  conducted  his 
argument  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  He  reasons  there 
both  of  sin  and  of  righteousness  ;  but  it  is  first  of  the  per- 
sonal sins  of  men,  and  then  of  the  imputed  righteousness 
of  Christ.  He  begins  with  a  frightful  catalogue  of  human 
transgressions  ;  but  the  transgression  of  Adam  has  no  part 
in  it,  and  only  the  actual  transgressions  of  those  who  spring 
from  him — deepening  from  age  to  age  in  atrocity  and  guilt 
with  the  progress  of  this  world's  degeneracy.  He  charges 
both  Jews  and  Gentiles  with  being  all  under  sin — but  it 
is  with  their  own  distinct  and  characteristic  sins  that  he 
charges  each  of  them  ;  and  it  is  solely  by  the  demonstra- 
tion of  these  that  he  would  shut  up  men  to  the  faith  of  the 
Saviour.  He  passed  judgment  on  them  not  because  of  the 
things  which  he  said  descended  upon  them  from  Adam, 
but  because  of  the  things  which  he  said  themselves  did. 


540  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

He  holds  remonstrance,  not  because  of  what  they  inherited 
from  another,  but  because  of  what  they  committed  them- 
selves. Thinkest  thou,  O  man,  that  thou  wilt  escape  who 
doest  these  things,  who  committest  these  things  ?  The 
only  retribution  spoken  of  by  Paul  at  this  stage  of  his  ar- 
gument, is  that  which  is  rendered  to  men  because  of  their 
deeds — the  tribulation  and  the  anguish,  the  indignation  and 
the  wrath,  rendered  to  every  man  who  doeth  evil.  It  is 
upon  these,  and  in  the  first  instance  upon  these  alone,  that 
he  brings  in  the  world  as  guilty  before  God — because  all 
have  sinned,  because  all  have  come  short  of  His  glory  ;  and 
it  is  from  these  that  he  makes  instant  transition  to  that 
righteousness,  not  of  themselves  but  of  another,  which  is 
unto  all  and  upon  all  w^ho  believe — who  are  freely  justified 
through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  is  asso- 
ciated with  Him,  and  with  His  errand  of  mercy  to  the 
world,  that  we  first  read  of  imputation.  This  mystery  is 
first  introduced  to  notice,  not  in  the  form  of  a  curse  upon 
mankind,  but  in  the  form  of  a  bUssful  and  bounteous  dis- 
pensation-— the  imputation  of  our  guilt  to  the  great  Re- 
deemer of  men,  and  in  virtue  of  which  He  becomes  our 
propitiation  through  faith  in  the  blood  that  He  shed  for  us 
— the  imputation  of  His  righteousness  to  us,  and  in  virtue 
of  which  the  Lawgiver  on  high  can  be  just  while  the  justi- 
fier  of  them  who  believe  in  Jesus.  It  is  in  conjunction  with 
these  precious  annunciations  of  welcome  and  good-will,  it 
is  in  the  midst  of  this  feast  of  fat  things,  that  he  prolongs 
his  discourse  for  more  than  a  whole  chapter  on  imputation 
— an  imputation  which  gladdened  and  assured  the  heart  of 
Abraham,  and  of  ours  also,  who,  if  we  only  believe,  are 
admitted  to  the  same  peace  with  God,  and  to  rejoice,  as  did 
the  father  of  the  faithful,  in  the  hope  of  glory.  And  it  is  to 
them  who  with  the  apostle  are  thus  joying  in  God  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  to  them  who  along  with  himself 
have  received  the  atonement,  it  is  with  them  that  he  enters 
on  the  doctrine  of  Adam's  imputation — looking  back,  as  it 
were,  from  the  eminence  of  their  now  felt  security  on  the 
way  by  which  the  world  had  been  led,  from  the  time  that 


THE  DISEASE.  541 


sin  and  death  made  their  ingress  upon  our  species,  and 
passed  onward  in  the  form  of  a  descending  ruin  through  all 
its  generations.  It  is  then  that,  as  if  speaking  wisdom  to 
those  who  are  perfect,  he  deals  out  his  strong  meat  to  the 
men  who  are  able  to  bear  it — that  meat  which  he  had  hith- 
erto withheld  from  the  trembling  inquirer,  or  from  him  who 
only  yet  on  the  transition  pathway  between  nature  and 
grace,  was  still  in  the  tenderness  and  infancy  of  a  new-born 
convert  He  is  now  holding  converse  with  full-grown 
Christians  who  had  described  the  successive  stages  of  trib- 
ulation and  patience  and  experience,  and  could  at  length 
lift  their  erect  and  unabashed  visages,  in  the  confidence  of 
a  hope  which  maketh  not  ashamed,  and  also  of  a  love  which 
casteth  out  fear.  Such  are  the  men  whom  the  apostle  is 
now  instructing  in  the  deep  things  of  God — beginning  with 
the  parallelism  between  the  first  and  the  second  Adam,  and 
proceeding  onward  to  the  higher  mysteries  of  election  and 
sovereign  grace,  and  the  other  unsearchable  judgments  of 
Him  who  is  past  finding  out.  Nay,  proceeding  onward 
with  the  eye  of  a  prophet  from  the  past  to  the  future,  from 
the  commencement  to  the  final  destinies  of  our  species,  when 
after  the  rejection  and  then  the  restoration  of  God's  ancient 
people — successive  footsteps,  as  it  were,  along  the  march  of 
time  to  the  world's  regeneration — all  Israel  shall  be  saved 
that  the  fullness  of  the  Gentiles  might  come  in  :  and  this  be- 
fore that  great  and  final  disclosure  shall  take  place,  when 
time  shall  be  no  more,  and  the  mystery  of  God  shall  be 
finished.  Paul  knew  well  how  to  adapt  his  instructions  to 
the  varied  state  and  progress  of  his  hearers,  so  as  rightly 
to  divide  or  rightly  to  distribute  the  word  of  truth — giving 
to  every  man  a  word  in  season — beginning  with  the  first 
elements,  and  proceeding  onward  from  these  to  the  higher 
lessons  of  the  Christian  course.  When  speaking  to  the 
careless  and  ungodly,  and  with  a  view  to  their  conviction 
of  sin,  we  venture  to  say  that  he  uttered  not  one  word  of 
imputation,  or  of  their  responsibility  for  the  sins  of  another  ; 
but  opened  his  way  to  their  consciences  by  telling  them, 
and  with  all  earnestness,  of  the  curse  and  the  condemnation 


542  INSTITUTES  OF  THEOLOGY. 

under  which  they  lay  because  of  their  own  sins.  When 
he  had  thus  awakened  their  fears,  it  was  then,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  again  stilling  the  tempest  which  he  had  raised, 
it  was  then  that  he  spake  of  imputation — and  this  not  the 
imputation  of  another's  guilt  to  them,  but  the  imputation  of 
their  guilt  to  another,  and  the  imputation,  in  return,  to  them 
of  that  other's  righteousness.  This  mystery  of  godliness 
was  first  set  forth  to  their  view,  not  in  the  aspect  of  terror 
or  menace,  but  shrined  in  that  mercy  which  harmonized  all 
the  other  attributes  of  the  Godhead,  and  rejoiced  over  them. 
It  is  thus  that,  after  having  gained  over  their  acceptance 
for  the  doctrine  of  the  imputation  of  Christ's  righteousness, 
he,  as  it  were,  smoothed  the  way  for  the  doctrine  of  the 
imputation  of  Adam's  guilt.  It  is  thus  that,  after  having 
invited  men  to  that  grace  by  which  they  are  made  the 
partakers  of  another's  righteousness,  he  could  talk  to  them 
largely  and  at  leisure  of  that  which  now  was  a  word  in 
season — he  could  talk  of  that  like  wondrous  economy  by 
which,  in  their  state  of  nature,  they  are  held  to  be  the 
partakers  of  another's  condemnation.  There  is  room  for 
wonder  still,  but  most  assuredly  no  room  or  reason  to  com- 
plain of  God.  We  are  not  yet  admitted,  for  the  gratification 
of  our  curiosity,  to  a  full  view  of  the  counsels  of  God  ;  but 
to  one  and  all  of  us  has  the  door  of  admittance  been  opened 
to  His  kindness  and  tender  mercy  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 


END   OF  VOLUME  SEVENTH. 


82  Cliff  Street,  New  York. 

July,  1849. 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS' 
Book  iCist  of  tl)c  present  Season. 


^  «— ~«s<VS/^#^^^^WW«»~ 


Richard  Hildreth,  Esq. 
A  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

From  the  first  Settlement  of  the  Country  to  the  Organization  of  the 

Government  under  the  Federal  Constitution,  &c. 

3  vols.  Svo. 

"  The  product  of  over  seven  years'  literary  toil,  this  important  work  presents,  in 
a  compact  and  popular  form,  the  first  complete  history  of  the  United  States  that 
has  ever  appeared.  The  author's  pursuits  and  studies  have  prepared  him  for  the 
most  faithful  and  skiUful  execution  of  his  task.  The  style  is  characterized  by 
great  perspicuity,  force,  and  gracefulness ;  the  narrative  is  unencumbered,  and 
the  tone  of  the  history  sound  and  scholar-like." 

"Mr.  Hildreth  gives  the  great  mass  of  readers  in  our  reading  country  just  the 
history  which  is  adapted  to  their  wants,  and  which,  we  have  no  doubt,  will  at 
once  gain  the  position  that  it  deserves,  of  a  popular,  readable  book  for  the  million, 
which  may  be  relied  on  for  the  correctness  of  its  details,  while  it  wins  the  atten- 
tion by  the  simple  beauty  of  its  narrative." 

Rufus  W.  Griswold,  D.D. 

AN  ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY, 

Ancient  and  Modern ;  embracing  more  than  Two  Thousand  Articles 
relating  to  America.     Edited  from  the  Biographie  Universelle,  Con- 
versations Lexicon,  the  Biographie  Moderne,  Rose's  Biogiaphical 
Dictionaiy,  Smith's  Greek  and  Roman  Biography,  &c. 
3  vols,  royal  Svo.     {In  press.) 


Dr.  John  A.  Carlyle. 
DANTE'S  DIVINE  COMEDY:  THE  INFERNO. 

A  literal  Prose  Translation,  w^ith  the  Text  of  the  Original  collated  from 

the  best  Editions,  and  Explanatory  Notes. 

12mo,  Muslin,  $1  00. 

We  are  much  mistaken  if  this  work  does  not  make  the  immortal  Italian  famil- 
iar to  thousands  who  are  but  barely  acquainted  with  his  name,  and  more  highly  . 
appreciated  than  ever,  even  by  those  who  have  fancied  that  they  studied  him 
well.  It  is  a  rich  store-house  of  literary  wealth,  and  wisdom,  and  genius. — Lit- 
erary/ Gazette. 


2  Harper  8f  Brothers'  Book  List  of  the  present  Season. 

Rev.  W.  P.  Strickland. 

A    HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BIBLE 
SOCIETY, 

From  its  Organization  in  1816  to  the  present  Time. 

With  an  Introduction,  by  Rev.  N.  L.  Rice. 

Willi  a  Portrait  of  Hon.  Elias  Boudinot,  LL.D.,  first  President  of  the  Society. 
Svo,  Muslin. 

The  above  work  has  been  examined  and  improved  by  many  eminent  gentlemen, 
among  whom  are 


Bishop  M'Ilvaine, 

"       Janes, 

"       Morris, 

Rev.  Dr.  Beecher, 

"       "     Biggs, 

"       "     Rice, 

"       "     Stockton, 


Rev.  Dr.  Fisher, 
"       "     Elliott, 
«       "     Tyng, 
"       "     Brigham, 
"       "     Durbin, 

Hon.  Judge  M'Lean, 


A   HISTORY   OF   WONDERFUL    INVENTIONS. 

With  numerous  Illustrations.     12mo,  Paper,  50  cents  ;  Muslin,  75  cents. 


Professor  Gray. 
NATURAL    PHILOSOPHY. 

12mo.     (In  press.) 


SERMONS    BY    THE    LATE    THOMAS    CHAL- 
MERS, D.D.,  LL.D., 

Illustrative  of  different  Stages  in  his  Ministry.     From  1798  to  1847. 
EDITED  BY  REV.  WILLIAM  HANNA,  LL.D. 

Forming  Volume  VI.  of  "  Chalmerses  Posthumous  Works.'^     l2mo,  Muslin, 
$1  00  ;    Sheep  extra,  $1  25. 

This  volume  contains  sei-mons,  beginning  in  1798,  and  we  need  not  speak  of  the 
peculiar  eloijuence  aud  effect  of  the  preacher.  They  stand  well  the  examination 
of  the  closet,  not  only  in  style,  but,  what  is  far  better,  in  moral  discipline  and  doc- 
trine. The  Divine  summary  of  human  duty  is  a  fine  example  of  the  enforcement 
Df  both  religious  and  moral  duties  ;  on  the  guilt  of  calumny,  a  glorious  moral  dis- 
course. His  several  farewell  discourses  are  full  of  rich  humanity  and  touching 
reflections;  but  there  are  thirty-three  sermons,  aud  we  can  not  particularize  their 
relative  merits.  Leaving  the  more  theological  subjects,  we  would  say,  that  those 
on  courteousness,  and  the  duties  of  masters  and  servants,  are  worthy  of  being 
framed  in  letters  of  gold,  as  lessons  for  the  right  discharge  of  simple  daily  duties. 
— London  Literwy  Gazette. 


Harper  Sf  Brothers'  Book  List  of  the  present  Season.   3 

Professor  Andrews. 
A  LATIN-ENGLISH  LEXICON. 

From  the  new  German  Work  of  Dr.  Freund,  augmented  with  im 

portant  Additions. 

Uniform  with  Liddell  and  Scott's  Lexicon.     Royal  8vo.     {In  press.) 


Rev.  Jacob  Abbott. 
A   SERIES    OF   HISTORIES, 

Comprising 


Mary  Queen  op  Scots. 
Charles  I.  of  England. 
Alexander  the  Great. 
Hannibal  the  Carthaginian. 
QoEEN  Elizabeth. 
Charles  II.  op  England. 
Queen  Maria  Antoinette. 


Julius  C^sar. 
King  Richard  I. 
King  Richard  III. 
Alfred  the  Great. 
Darius,  King  of  Persia. 
William  the  Conqueror. 
Xerxes. 


Each  Volume  is  handsomely  printed,  tastefully  bound,  and  adorned 
with  an  elegantly  Illuminated  Title-page  and  numerous  illustrative 
Engravings. 

12mo,  Muslin,  plain  edges,  60  cents ;  Muslin,  gilt  edges,  75  cents. 

The  historical  writings  of  Mr.  Abbott  can  not  fail  to  be  popular.  They  are 
written  in  an  elegant  yet  simple  style,  and  are  well  suited  both  to  juvenile  and 
mature  minds. — Methodist  Protestant. 

The  matter  and  the  style  of  publication  make  them  peculiarly  attractive  to  the 
young,  for  whose  use  we  do  not  know  any  more  interesting  and  instructive  works. 
Evei"y  parent  should  place  them  in  the  hands  of  his  children. — Baltimore  Amer. 


James  Copland,  n.D.,  F.R.S. 
A  DICTIONARY  OF  PRACTICAL  MEDICINE. 

Comprising  General  Pathology,  the  Nature  and  Treatment  of  Diseases, 
Morbid  Structures,  and  the  Disorders  especially  Incidental  to  Cli- 
mates, to  the  Sex,  and  to  the  different  Epochs  of  Life  ;  with  numer- 
ous Prescriptions  for  the  Medicines  recommended.  A  Classification 
of  Diseases  according  to  Pathological  Principles ;  a  copious  Bibliog- 
raphy, and  an  Appendix  of  approved  Formulae. 

WITH  NOTES  AND  ADDITIONS  BY  C.  A.  LEE,  M.D. 

To  he  completed  in  3  vols,  royal  8vo.     Two  Volumes  now  Ptiblished.     Price 

$5  00  per  Volume,  bound  in  Muslin. 

Aside  from  its  importance  to  the  medical  profession,  this  work  can  not  fail  to 
commend  itself  to  a  numerous  class  among  general  readers  who  would  obtain  in- 
telligent views  of  the  nature  and  treatment  of  the  various  diseases  which  "flesh 
is  heir  to."  It  is  beautifully  printed,  and  is  unquestionably  the  best  work  that 
has  hitherto  appeared  on  the  subject  of  Practical  Medicine,  either  in  this  coun- 
try or  in  Europe. — New  Bedford  Mercury. 


4  Harper  ^  Brothers*  Book  List  of  the  present  Season, 
THE  LATE 


MR.  SOUTHEY'S  COMMONPLACE-BOOK; 

Consisting  of  Choice  Passages  from  "Works  in  every  Department  of 
Literature — Special  Collections  in  various  Branches  of  Historical  and 
Literary  Research — Analytical  Readings,  being  critical  Analyses, 
with  interesting  Extracts — and  Original  Memoranda,  Literary  and 
Miscellaneous,  accumulated  by  Mr.  Southey  in  the  whole  com-se 
of  his  personal  and  literary  career. 

EDITED  BY  HIS  SON-IN-LAW,  REV.  J.  W.  WARTER. 

Subjoined  is  an  analysis  of  the  whole  contents  of  the  collection,  as  well  as  a 
summary  of  the  contents  of  each  volume  of  the  series. 

First  Series— C^ice  Passages. 
Choice  Passages,  Moral,  Religious,  Political,  Philosophical,  Historical,  Poetical, 

and  Miscellaneous : — First  Class,  Larger  Passages ;  Second  Class,  Smaller  Pas- 

sag-es. 
Collections  for  the  History  of  English  Manners  and  Literature. 


Second  Series — 
Collection  relating  to — 

Church-of-En gland  Divinity. 
Cromwell's  Age. 

Spanish  and  Portuguese  Literature. 
The  Manners  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  History  of  Religious  Orders. 
Orientalia,  or  Mohammedan  and  Hin- 
doo Manners. 
East  Indian  Geography. 


Special  Collections. 
Collection  relating  to — 
The  Native  American  Tribes. 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  American  Ge- 
ography. 
Miscellaneous  Geography. 
Collection  consisting  of — 
Remarkable   Facts  in  Natural  His- 
tory. 
Curious  Facts  quite  Miscellaneous. 


Third  Series — Analytical  Readings. 


Analytical  Readings  of  Works  in — 
English  History  (Civil). 

(Ecclesiastical). 

Anglo-Irish  History. 

French  History. 

Civil  History  (Miscellaneous  Foreign). 

Ecclesiastical  (General). 

Historical  Memoirs. 

Biography  (Ecclesiastical). 


Analytical  Readings  of  Works  in- 
Biography  (Miscellaneous.) 
Literary  History. 
Correspondence. 
Voyages  and  Travels. 
Topography. 
Natural  Histoiy. 
Divinity. 
Miscellaneous  Literature. 


Fourth  Series — Original  Memoranda,  Spc. 


Ideas  and  Studies  for  Literary  Compo- 
sition in  general. 

Memoranda  for  the  Composition  of  par- 
ticular "Works. 

Personal  Observations  and  Recollec- 
tions. 

Characteristic  English  Anecdotes. 

Miscellaneous  Notes  and  Extracts  relat- 


ing to  the  composition  of  "  The  Doc- 
tor." 

Facts  and  Opinions  relating  to  PoUtical 
and  Social  History. 

Memoranda  relating  to  the  Political  His- 
tory of  the  Period  of  the  Reform  Bill 
(1830-33.) 

Miscellaneous  Gleanings. 


Svo. 


Harper  ^  Brothers'  Book  List  of  the  present  Season.   6 

Professors  Riddle  and  Arnold. 

AN   ENGLISH-LATIN   LEXICON. 

Founded  on  the  German-Latin  Dictionary  of  Dr.  C.  E.  Georges. 

REVISED  BY  CHARLES  ANTHON   LL.D. 

Royal  8vo.     {In  press.) 


Charles  Anthon,  LL.D. 
THE    WORKS    OF   HORACE. 

With  English  Notes,  critical  and  explanatory.  A  new  Edition,  cor- 
rected and  enlarged,  with  Excursions  relative  to  the  Wines  and 
Vineyards  of  the  Ancients;  and  a  Life  of  Horace  by  Milman. 

12mo,  Sheep  extra,  $1  25. 


Charles  Anthon,  LL.D. 

A   SYSTEM    OF   ANCIENT    AND    MEDIEVAL 
GEOGRAPHY. 

8vo.     {In  press.) 


Alexander  G.  Findlay,  F.R.G.S. 

A  CLASSICAL  ATLAS    TO   ILLUSTRATE  AN^ 

CIENT  GEOGRAPHY; 

Comprised  in  25  Maps,  showing  the  various  Divisions  of  the  World  as 
known  to  the  Ancients.  With  an  Index  of  the  Ancient  and  Modern 
Names.  The  Maps  are  beautifully  Colored,  and  the  Index  is  re- 
markably full  and  complete. 

8vo,  half  Bound,  $3  75. 
♦ 

Dr.  John  C.  L,  Gieseler. 

A   COMPENDIUM   OF    ECCLESIASTICAL 
HISTORY. 

From  the  Fourth  Edinburgh  Edition,  revised  and  amended.     Trans- 
lated from  the  German, 
BY  SAMUEL  DAVIDSON,  LL.D. 

8vo. 


6   Harper  Sf  Brothers^  Book  List  of  the  present  Season, 

ViQt  M'Glintock  and  Crooks. 

A  SERIES  OF 
ELEMENTARY  GREEK  AND  LATIN  BOOKS, 

Comprising 


A  FIRST  BOOK  IN  LATIN. 

Containing  Grammar,  Exercises,  and 
Vocabularies,  on  the  Method  of 
constant  Imitation  and  Repetition. 
With  Summaries  of  Etymology  and 
Syntax.  12mo,  Sheep  extra,  75 
cents.     {Fifth  Edition.) 

A  SECOND  BOOK  IN  LATIN. 

Being  a  sufficient  Latin  Reader,  in 
Extracts  from  Cassar  and  Cicero, 
with  Notes  and  full  Vocabulary. 
12mo.     (Soon.) 


AN 


WRITIN& 


INTRODUCTION   TO 
LATIN. 

Containing  a  full  Syntax,  on  the  Ba- 
sis of  Kuhner,  with  Loci  Memoriales 
selected  from  Cicero,  and  copious 
Exercises  for  Imitation  and  Repe- 
tition.    12mo. 


A  PRACTICAL   INTRODUCTION  TO 
LATIN  STYLE. 

Principally  translated  from  Grysar's 
"Theorie  lateinischen  Stiles." 
12mo. 

A  FIRST  BOOK  IN  GREEK. 

Containing  a  full  View  of  the  Forms 
of  Words,  with  Vocabularies  and 
copious  Exercises,  on  the  Method 
of  constant  Imitation  and  Repeti- 
tion. 12mo,  Sheep  extra,  75  cents. 
{Second  Edition.) 

A  SECOND  BOOK  IN  GREEK. 

Containing  a  Syntax,  with  Reading 
Lessons  in  Prose ;  Prosody  and 
Reciding  Lessons  in  Verse.  Form- 
ing a  sufficient  Greek  Reader,  with 
Notes  and  copious  Vocabulary. 
12mo.     {Nearly  ready.) 


The  "First  Book  in  Latin,"  by  Professors  M'Clintock  and  Crooks,  I  prefer,  on 
many  accounts,  to  any  other  of  the  elementary  Latin  grammars  now  used  in  our 
schools ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  its  philosophical  and  eminently  practical  charac- 
ter will  secure  for  it  great  popularity  both  among  teachers  and  pupils. — Rev  J.  F, 
ScHROEDER,  RectoT  of  St.  Ann' s  Hall,  New  York. 


Sir  Charles  Lyell. 
A  SECOND  VISIT  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

2  vols.  12mo.     {Nearly  ready.) 


George  F.  Ruxton,  Esq, 
LIFE    IN   THE    FAR   WEST. 

l2mo,  Paper,  37^  cents ;  Muslin,  60  cents. 

Mr.  Ruxton  is  a  remarkably  cheerful,  good-natured,  free-and-easy  traveler,  who 
tells  his  story  in  a  most  happy  style,  touching  here  and  there  the  most  interesting 
points  in  a  journey  of  thousands  of  mUes,  with  a  quickness  and  life  which  make 
his  adventures  very  pleasant  reading. — Hartford  Republican. 


Harper  Sf  Brothers^  Book  List  of  the  present  Season.    1 

B.  J.  Lossing. 

THE   PICTORIAL  FIELD-BOOK  OF  THE   REV- 
OLUTION ; 

Or,  Illustrations,  by  Pen  and  Pencil,  of  the  History,  Scenery,  Biog- 
raphy, Relics,  and  Traditions  of  the  War  for  Independence. 

EMBELLISHED  WITH   FIVE   HUNDRED   ENGRAVINGS   ON  WOOD,   CHIEFLY 
FROM    ORIGINAL    SKETCHES. 

To  he  completed  in  about  Fifteen  Numbers,  containing  Sixty-four  large  octavo 
Pages  each,  at  25  Cents  per  Number. 

This  elegant  work  will  be  a  pictorial  and  descriptive  record  of  a  journey  to  all 
the  most  important  historical  localities  of  the  American  Revolution,  performed 
during  the  years  1848  and  1849.  Its  plan  is  unique  and  attractive,  embracing  the 
characteristics  of  a  book  of  travel  and  a  history.  The  author  has  visited  the 
places  described  and  illustrated,  and  sketched  the  natural  scenery ;  relics  of  the 
past,  such  as  head-quarters  of  officers  still  standing,  interior  views  of  remarkable 
buildings,  and  remains  of  fortifications  ;  many  interesting  relics  preserved  in  his- 
torical societies  and  elsewhere ;  and  every  thing  of  interest  which  fell  in  his  way 
connected  directly  or  indirectly  with  the  events  in  question.  These  will  all  be 
portrayed  and  described  as  he  found  them.  In  addition  to  these  sketches,  will  be 
given  plans  of  all  the  battles,  exhibiting  the  relative  positions  of  the  opposing 
troops  in  action;  portraits  of  persons,  American  and  foreign,  who  were  distinguish- 
ed actors  in  those  scenes,  as  weU  as  of  individuals  stiU  living  who  were  engaged 
in  the  war;  fac-similes  of  autograph  names,  medals,  and  documents;  plans  of  for- 
tifications, &.C. 


Rev.  Charles  Beecher. 

THE  INCARNATION;  OR,  PICTURES  OF  THE 

VIRGIN  AND  HER   SON. 

With  an  Introduction  by  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe. 

12mo,  Muslin,  50  cents. 

The  volume  before  us  consists  of  nineteen  chapters,  more  fitly,  from  the  delicate 
fancy,  dramatic  power,  felicity  in  description,  and  occasional  instances  of  splendid 
imagination  which  they  exhibit,  to  be  styled  cantos,  for  the  work  is  altogether 
much  more  poetical  than  Klopstock's,  and  scarcely  less  so  than  the  Paradise  Re- 
gained of  Milton.  In  the  simplicity  and  elegance  of  its  diction,  as  well  as  in  the 
clearness  and  appositiveness  of  its  imagery,  it  addresses  the  most  uncultivated 
tastes,  while  it  will  detain  the  attention  of  the  Epicurean  in  letters.  It  is  a  book 
calculated  for  all  sects,  for  aU  ranks,  and  for  all  ages. — New  York  Weekly/  Mirror^ 


Professor  Fowler, 

AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  THE 

ENGLISH  LANGUAGE. 

8vo.     {In  press.) 


8   Harper  Sf  Brothers^  Book  List  of  the  present  Season 

Rev.  H.  Hastings  Weld. 
BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN,  HIS  AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 

With  a  Narrative  of  his  Public  Life  and  Services. 

With  numerous   splendid  Illustrations.     S-po,  Muslin,  $2  50  ;    Sheep  extra, 
$2  75  ;  half  Calf,  $3  00. 

It  is  a  book  for  "  the  people" — a  book  of  "  proverbs,"  if  you  please,  having  in  it 
no  little  of  the  wisdom  of  Solomon;  proverbs  illustrated  and  worked  out  in  his  own 
history.  It  is  a  practical  every-day  philosophy  which  has  made  the  fortunes  of 
more  men  than  all  the  gold  of  California  will  ever  make.  The  narrative  of  his  pub- 
lic life  and  services  by  Mr.  Weld  forms  an  interesting  and  valuable  addition  to 
the  autobiography.  This  edition  is  a  splendid  aflFair — nothing  like  it  exists  ;  the 
old  philosopher  would  hardly  know  himself  in  so  splendid  a  dress.  The  paper,  the 
press-work,  the  pictorial  illustrations  are  aU  superior. — Biblical  Repository. 


Rev.  Baptist  W.  Noel,  M.A. 

AN    ESSAY    ON    THE     UNION    OF    CHURCH 
AND   STATE. 

12mo,  Muslin,  $1  25.     {Second  Edition.) 

This  is  a  labored  argument  against  the  establishment  of  the  Church,  by  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  evangehcal  preachers  of  this  day  in  England.  It  condemns 
the  Union  of  Church  and  State  upon  constitutional  grounds,  by  arguments  drawn 
from  history  and  the  Mosaic  law,  and  from  the  prophecies  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment. It  condemns  also  the  maintenance  of  Christian  pastors  by  the  State,  and 
undertakes  to  show  the  evils  of  such  maintenance.  It  then  shows  the  influence 
of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  upon  Church  dignitaries  and  pastors,  and  upon 
Dissenters.  A  third  sei'ies  of  objections  discovers  many  miscellaneous  evils  re- 
sulting from  the  same  to  the  people  and  country  generally,  and  to  religion.  The 
last  chapter  of  the  work  is  devoted  to  the  means  and  methods  of  promoting  a  re- 
vival and  extension  of  religion. 


Hon.  T.  Babington  Macaulay. 

THE    HISTORY    OF    ENGLAND,    FROM    THE 
ACCESSION  OF  JAMES  II. 

AN    ELEGANT    LIBRARY   EDITION,    ON    LARGE    TYPE,    FINE    PAPER,    AND    IN    GOOD 
BINDING.       UNIFORM    WITH    PRESCOTt's    HISTORICAL    WORKS, 

Washington's  writings,  etc. 

With  a  Portrait  of  the  Author.     Vols.  I.  and  II.,  Muslin,  75  cents  per  volume  ; 

Sheep  extra,  Si  00;  half  Calf,  $1  25. 

Also,  an  Edition  uniform  vnth  Alison's  Europe,  at  25  cents  per  Volume. 

Macaulay,  as  a  brilliant  rhetorician,  comes  nearer  to  Burke  than  any  writer  since 
his  time  ;  as  a  painter  of  character,  his  portraits  vie  with  those  of  Clarendon ;  for 
picturesque  description,  he  is  equal  to  Robertson,  and  the  march  of  his  narrative, 
if  not  so  simply  graceful  as  that  of  Hume,  is  more  stately  and  imposing.  He  is 
accurate  and  impartial :  perhaps  no  English  author  is  better  fitted  to  produce  a 
popular  continuation  to  Hume,  or  to  attract  attention  to  eras  of  English  history 
much  neglected  by  general  readers. — Chtirckman. 


Harper  Sf  Brothers'  Book  List  of  the  present  Season.   9 

Sir  John  Barrow's  Posthumous  Work. 

SKETCHES    OF    THE    ROYAL    SOCIETY   AND 

THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY  CLUB. 

Svo.     I^In  press.) 


Major  Ripley,  U.S.A. 
THE    WAR    WITH    MEXICO. 

8vo.     {In  press.) 


Judge  Thornton. 
OREGON  AND  CALIFORNIA  IN  1848  : 

"With  an  Appendix,  including  recent  and  authentic  Information  on  the 
Subject  of  the  Gold  Mines  of  California,  and  other  valuable  Matter 
of  interest  to  the  Emigrant,  &c. 

With  Illustrations  and  a  Map.     2  vols.  l2mo,  Muslin,  $1  75, 

These  volumes  are  not  a  mere  catch-penny  concern,  as  are  many  of  the  works 
which  the  Cahfomia  excitement  has  produced.  They  are  intensely  exciting  as  a 
naiTative,  and  of  real  and  permanent  value  for  their  varied  and  reliable  informa- 
tion. They  evince,  too,  no  little  literary  taste  and  erudition,  though  the  product 
of  a  California  emigrant.  They  tell  a  tale  of  emigrant  hardship,  suffering,  anid 
toil,  that  harrows  up  the  reader's  feelings  to  their  intensest  pitch,  and  chills  his 
very  blood.  "We  have  read  of  battle  scenes,  shipwrecks,  horrible  sufferings,  and 
lingering  deaths  ;  tales  of  torture,  cannibalism,  and  tragedy,  real  and  imaginative, 
but  in  the  whole  course  of  our  reading  we  have  met  with  nothing  to  compare  with 
the  narrative  part  of  these  volumes.  Men,  women,  and  children,  dying  by  inches 
from  hunger  in  a  dreary  wilderness;  the  living  feeding  upon  the  dead;  toasting 
their  hearts  on  a  stick,  and  cutting  off  the  flesh  from  the  bones  and  subsisting 
upon  it;  kiUing  each  other  for  food;  selfishness,  revenge,  murder,  cannibalism  in 
its  most  horrid  features,  reigning  in  the  camp  ;  the  annals  of  human  suffering  no- 
where present  a  more  appalling  spectacle. — Biblical  Repository/. 


Samuel  Warren,  F.R.S. 

MORAL,  SOCIAL,  AND  PROFESSIONAL  DUTIES 

OF  ATTORNEYS  AND  SOLICITORS. 

12mo,  Muslin,  75  cents. 

"Mr.  Warren's  previous  legal  publications  have  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of 
what  may  be  called  the  literature  of  the  law  ;  and  this  neat  volume,  originally  pre- 
sented in  the  form  of  lectures  before  the  Incorporated  Law  Society,  forms  a  useful 
and  worthy  supplement  to  his  excellent  "Popular  and  Practical  Introduction  to 
Law  Studies."  It  is  a  work  calculated  to  do  great  good  to  the  profession,  and  to 
interest  and  instruct  the  general  reader.  It  is  published  in  a  shape  at  once  eco- 
nomical and  tasteful." 


10  Harper  Sf  Brothers'  Book  List  of  the  present  Season. 

Mrs.  EEarsh. 
MORDAUNT  HALL ;  OR,  A  SEPTEMBER  NIGHT 

Svo,  Paper,  25  cenU. 

This  new  novel  by  the  author  of  "  Emilia  Wyndham,"  "Angela,"  &c.,  not  only 
fally  sustains  the  high  reputation  of  its  popular  author,  but  will  even  raise  it  in 
the  estimation  of  the  literary  world.  Rarely  has  an  excellent  moral  purpose  been 
BO  strikingly  developed  through  the  medium  of  a  tale  abounding  in  dramatic  inci- 
dent, and  filled  with  a  succession  of  characters  so  varied  in  their  attributes,  and 
so  truthfully  and  energetically  painted,  that  they  form  a  gallery  of  portraits  worthy 
to  rank  with  the  creations  of  the  greatest  masters  of  modem  fiction.  The  other 
subordinate  personages  of  this  clever  and  exciting  story  are  sketches  that  will  re- 
mind the  reader  forcibly  oi  Dickens,. —London  Standard. 

The  Brothers  Mayhew. 
THE  MAGIC   OF  KINDNESS;   OR,  THE  WON- 
DROUS STORY  OF  THE  GOOD  HUAN. 

With  numerous  Illustrations.     ISmo.     {Nearly  ready.) 


By  the  Author  of  ''The  Bachelor  of  the  Albany." 
MY  UNCLE   THE  CURATE. 

8vo,  Paper,  25  cents. 

An  interesting  stoiy,  full  of  lively  incident  and  spicy  humor. — Savannah  Repub. 

"The  style  of  the  present  book  reminds  us  forcibly  of  the  old  English  novelists. 
The  author  hits  off  character  with  great  spirit  and  humor;  his  style  is  elegant,  and 
throughout  he  interests  the  reader.  Altogether,  he  has  presented  a  charming 
book." 

\  This  author  is,  perhaps,  the  wittiest  novelist,  as  Dickens  is  the  most  humorous, 
of  the  day.  His  writing  may  not  be  very  profound  or  learned,  but  it  certainly  is 
keen  and  tnithful.  He  does  nst  use  very  heavy  artillery,  but  he  keeps  up  a  con- 
tinual.^u  dejoie  of  smart  things.  They  are,  however,  not  merely  smart,  they  are 
often  forcibly  descriptive  or  aptly  illustrative. — Examiner. 


Sir  E.  Bulwer  L3rtton. 
THE  CAXTONS:  A  FAMILY  PICTURE. 

Part  I.,  8vo,  Paper j  18|  cents. 

To  the  brilliant  qualities  which  recommend  Sir  E.  Bulwer  Lytton  to  the  multi- 
tude of  readers,  he  adds  one  quality  which  must  always  endear  him  to  men  who 
feel  an  interest  in  the  destiny  of  their  species.  It  is  impossible  to  rise  from  any 
of  his  works  without  being  more  or  less  smitten  by  his  bold  views,  his  love  of 
truth,  and  without  feeling  an  elevation  of  purpose  somewhat  akin  to  his  own. 
There  are  in  his  works  many  admirable  passages,  evincing  a  higher  aim  thaa 
merely  amusing  his  TQSLdQr8.—Lo7idon  Morning  Chronicle. 


DATE  DUE 

% 

DEMCO  38-297 

visr-'^ 

